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Kidney Disease in Children Information
The kidneys are like the body's garbage collection and disposal system. Through microscopic units called nephrons, the kidneys remove waste products and extra water from the food a person eats, returning chemicals the body needs (such as sodium, phosphorus, and potassium) back into the bloodstream. The extra water combines with other waste to become urine, which flows through thin tubes called ureters to the bladder, where it stays until it exits through the urethra (the tube that carries urine out of the body from the bladder) when someone goes to the bathroom.
When parents first hear their child has kidney disease, they may wonder what they could have done to prevent it. These feelings are common. In most cases, however, there is no way anyone could know their child would get kidney disease and usually nothing that could have been done to stop it. Focusing on what can be done now, such as getting proper treatment, following doctor’s advice, working with your child’s health care team and learning all you can about the disease are the best ways to help your child after the diagnosis.
Kidney Disease in Children is a series of fact sheets developed by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Health. These fact sheets introduce the major causes of kidney disease and kidney failure in children, provide detailed explanations of the treatment options, and discuss complications of kidney disease and its treatment.
The kidneys activate vitamin D so that it promotes the absorption of calcium from food into the intestines. This vitamin D hormone also helps bones absorb the right amount of calcium. Calcium and vitamin D are essential elements for the normal growth of bones. If the kidneys are impaired, bones do not get enough calcium to grow. One reason is that the production of the vitamin D hormone may be deficient. Impaired kidneys may also let too much phosphorus build up in the blood; consequently, phosphorus keeps calcium from getting to the bones.
A child with this syndrome will urinate less often, so the water left in the body causes swelling around the eyes, legs, and belly. The small amount of urine the body makes contains high levels of protein. Healthy kidneys keep protein in the blood, but damaged kidneys let it leak from the blood into the urine. Nephrotic syndrome can usually be treated with prednisone to stop protein leakage, and sometimes a diuretic is used to help the child urinate and reduce the swelling. Usually, the child can take smaller and smaller doses of prednisone and eventually return to normal with no lasting kidney damage.
The causes of kidney disease are also different for children than adults. Among the children under the age of 12, the most common causes of kidney failure are problems with the structure of the kidney, bladder, or anywhere along the urinary tract. Most children are born with these problems. In many cases of structural kidney disease, surgery is required either to preserve kidney function, to manage urinary problems, or to prepare patients for renal transplantation. In children over the age of 12, glomerulonephritis (inflammation of the kidneys) is the most frequent cause of kidney failure.
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