Chronic kidney disease is the ninth leading cause of death in the U.S. and one of the costliest illnesses in the U.S. today.

• Approximately 345,000 Americans are being treated for kidney failure. Each year, nearly 70,000 Americans die from causes related to kidney failure. At lease 40 million Americans may be at risk for chronic kidney disease.
• Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, accounting for more than 43 percent of the new cases each year and nearly 34 percent of all cases in the U.S.
• Uncontrolled or poorly controlled high blood pressure is the second leading cause of kidney failure in the U.S., accounting for about 26 percent of the new cases each year, and about 23 percent of all cases in the U.S.
• Kidney and urologic diseases continue to be major causes of work-loss, physician visits, and hospitalizations among men and women. Each year, kidney stones result in more than 1 million physician office visits and more than 250,000 hospitalizations at a cost of $1.8 billion. Urinary tract infections result in nearly 8.3 million office visits and 1.6 million hospitalizations.
• Urinary incontinence, or loss of control of urination, caused by illnesses, medications or aging, is a major health problem in older women, although men are also affected. An estimated 13 million adults in the U.S. have this disorder. The cost of treating urinary incontinence in patients 65 and older is $26.3 billion annually.

Your kidneys may be small, but they perform many vital functions that help maintain your overall health, including filtering waste and excess fluids from your blood. Serious kidney disease may lead to complete kidney failure and the need for dialysis treatments or a kidney transplant to stay alive.

In the United States the two leading causes of kidney failure, also called end stage kidney disease or ESRD, are diabetes (also called Type 2, or adult onset diabetes) and high blood pressure. When these two diseases are controlled by treatment, the associated kidney disease can often be prevented or slowed down.

The third leading cause of end stage kidney disease in the U.S. is glomerulonephritis, a disease that damages the kidneys' filtering units, called the glomeruli. In many cases, the cause of this disease is not known, but some cases may be inherited and others may be triggered by an infection.

Some of the other diseases that may affect the kidneys include infections, kidney stones and inherited diseases such as polycystic kidney disease. The kidneys can also be damaged by overuse of some over-the-counter pain killers and by taking illegal drugs such as heroin. Some of these diseases can be cured. In other cases, treatments can help to slow the disease and prolong life.