If you eat well and exercise but do not keep healthy blood sugar or blood pressure levels then your GFR may continue to decline.
A decrease or decline in the GFR implies progression of underlying kidney disease or the occurrence of a superimposed insult to the kidneys. This is most commonly due to problems such as dehydration and volume loss.
What is kidney failure? Kidney failure (renal failure) means one or both of your kidneys no longer function well on their own. Kidney failure is sometimes temporary and develops quickly (acute). Other times it's a chronic (long-term) condition that slowly gets worse.
Acute kidney injury (AKI), formerly called acute kidney failure, is a sudden decline in glomerular filtration rate (GFR). This results in elevations in serum creatinine (SCr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and electrolyte levels (Okusa and Rosner, 2019).
The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is variable and it relies on a blood test, which may have day to day variations and it is an "estimation". Hence, the more times you do the test, the more accurate will be the estimate.
People with mildly low gFR (between 60 and 89) may not have kidney disease if there is no sign of kidney damage, such as protein in their urine. these people should have their gFR checked more often.
The good news is that acute kidney failure can often be reversed. The kidneys usually start working again within several weeks to months after the underlying cause has been treated. Dialysis is needed until then.
Your eGFR can change over time and can change based on some other problems, like if you have not been drinking enough water. As chronic kidney disease gets worse, your eGFR number will go down.
Being active and having a healthy body weight is also important to kidney health. Some studies show kidney function improves with exercise. Talk with your healthcare professional or dietitian if you need to lose weight.
GFR generally declines at a rate of 1 mL/min/year.
Hydration affects GFR and natriuresis under fasting conditions and after a meat meal.
An increase in renal arterial pressure (or renal blood flow) causes an increase in GFR.
Dehydration does cause the serum creatinine to rise and the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) will, accordingly, fall.
It is only an estimate of kidney function and a significant error is possible. The eGFR is most likely to be inaccurate in people at extremes of body type e.g. patients with limb amputations, severely malnourished and morbidly obese individuals.
Don't eat ham, bacon, sausage, hot dogs, lunch meats, chicken tenders or nuggets, or regular canned soup. Only eat reduced-sodium soups that don't have potassium chloride as an ingredient (check the food label.) Also, only eat 1 cup, not the whole can.
Rapid GFR decline is a recognized predictor of impaired GFR (<60 mL/min/1.73 m2).
A kidney is an organ with relatively low basal cellular regenerative potential. However, renal cells have a pronounced ability to proliferate after injury, which undermines that the kidney cells are able to regenerate under induced conditions.
Weight loss and increased urine output may be signs your kidney function is returning.
A GFR of 60 or higher is in the normal range. A GFR below 60 may mean kidney disease. A GFR of 15 or lower may mean kidney failure.
A low eGFR in an older person does not always mean CKD, even if the eGFR is less than 60. When you get an eGFR test, a simple urine test called the uACR will also be done to check for blood or albumin (a type of protein) in the urine.
People over age 60 may have an apparently normal creatinine blood level but still have a low GFR. This opposite can also be true, where GFR may be mildly low but there is no real kidney disease.
In normal individuals, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) measured by inulin and creatinine clearance reaches a maximum during the day, peaking around 2–3 p.m., and a minimum in the middle of the night [11–13].