In its early stages, CKD is a silent disease — there are usually no symptoms to warn that something may be going awry with the kidneys. Some experts recommend that people with risk factors for CKD (e.g., those with diabetes, hypertension, heart disease) receive yearly kidney function screenings.[1]
CKD is diagnosed when kidney function tests show markers of serious kidney damage, e.g., decreased glomerular-filtration-rate (GFR) or creatinine, elevated ualbumin, or electrolyte abnormalities. Markers of kidney damage must persist over time to be labeled "chronic". CKD is classified based on GFR into 1 of 5 stages, where stage 1 is the least progressed disease state, and stage 5 represents kidney failure. [2] End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is defined as CKD stage 5 treated with dialysis.