Diabetes and high blood pressure are leading causes of kidney disease

Fiona Loud

Policy Director, Kidney Care UK

There are over seven million people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the UK, and the number is growing.

Diabetes and high blood pressure are the leading causes, yet 4 in 10 people with type 1 diabetes and 3 in 10 with type 2 diabetes don’t have the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended annual urine test to detect early CKD¹; and 7 in 10 people with high blood pressure didn’t have a urine test to detect early CKD in the past 12 months.²

Our research highlighted that two-thirds (65%) of people with diabetes and hypertension who went on to be diagnosed with CKD weren’t made aware of the risk.³

Early diagnosis can be life-changing

CKD is often referred to as a ‘silent disease’ because it’s possible to lose up to 90% of kidney function without even realising.⁴ This may be because of a lack of obvious symptoms, confusing some signs that your kidneys aren’t working well with common viruses or getting older. There are an estimated one million people in the UK who have kidney disease and aren’t even aware they have it.⁵

Early diagnosis can be life-changing Delaying the diagnosis of moderate to advanced CKD by one year results in a 63% higher likelihood of kidney failure⁵ requiring costly and burdensome treatment to stay alive, such as dialysis or a transplant.

This also significantly affects mental health⁶ and ability to work. Whether identified early or late, there will always be a cost to the NHS; but by identifying people sooner, more can be done to prolong kidney health, improve quality of life and reduce the cost and impact on health and other services.

[1] NHS. National Diabetes Audit. https://tinyurl.com/tss877nk.
[2] CVDPREVENT. Quality Improvement Tool. https://tinyurl.com/ydeeeyyh.
[3]Kidney Care UK. (2023). Let’s Talk Kidneys. https://tinyurl.com/4rj9reca.
[4] Yu, A. (2019). Brenner and Rector’s The Kidney.
[5] Tangri et. al (2023). Patient Management and Clinical Outcomes Associated with a Recorded Diagnosis of Stage 3 Chronic Kidney Disease: The REVEAL-CKD Study. Advances in Therapy. https://tinyurl.com/4ca6nc32
[6] Kidney Care UK. (2025). Left to get on with it: The real impact of inadequate psychosocial support in kidney care. https://tinyurl.com/2tr24nau.