Does kidney disease affect pregnancy in women?

Kidney disease is a disease that many people suffer from. When suffering from this disease, the impact on the human body is relatively large, and there will be high blood pressure, lower limb edema, proteinuria, as well as mental depression, dizziness, fatigue, etc. Not only men will have kidney disease, but many women will also have kidney disease. For women, whether they can get pregnant is a very important thing. So, does female kidney disease affect pregnancy?

For women with nephritis, the feasibility of pregnancy is determined based on the severity of the nephritis and the status of their renal function. Chronic nephritis is also called chronic glomerulonephritis, and its clinical manifestations include proteinuria, edema, and hypertension. People with impaired renal function should pay special attention. Chronic nephritis has a long course and complicated by pregnancy is not uncommon. After pregnancy, the burden on the kidneys increases, and the above symptoms are easy to appear. Patients often feel listless, weak limbs, dizziness, and visual impairment. In severe cases, chronic renal failure and uremia may occur. Because pregnancy increases the burden on the kidneys, it is easy to develop pregnancy-induced hypertension, which often aggravates kidney damage. If the nephritis is in the inactive stage, with only a small amount of proteinuria and no increased blood pressure, pregnancy may not aggravate kidney damage. Depending on the severity of nephritis, the impact on fetal development will vary. Chronic nephritis accompanied by high blood pressure is often accompanied by placental dysfunction and insufficient blood supply to the fetus, which may lead to intrauterine growth retardation, stillbirth, and high perinatal mortality. For pregnant women with severe nephritis, the fetal mortality rate can reach 50%.

It can be seen that whether women with nephritis can become pregnant may be due to the following situations:

1. Women with chronic nephritis and high blood pressure should not get pregnant. After pregnancy, about 75% of patients develop severe gestational hypertension syndrome, and the incidence of premature birth and stillbirth is extremely high. When a pregnant woman with nephritis develops pregnancy-induced hypertension, it can cause pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, during which blood pressure rises very high and is accompanied by headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and even convulsions. Eclampsia poses a serious threat to the life of pregnant women and fetuses. At this time, in addition to active medical treatment, careful management of pregnancy is often required to reduce the burden on the heart and kidneys.

2. In patients with chronic inflammation, if the renal function has not returned to normal, the amount of urine protein will increase, reaching "++" → "+++", and the urea nitrogen or creatinine in the blood will increase. It is necessary to guard against the occurrence of renal failure. Such patients should not become pregnant. If it is an early pregnancy, an abortion should be performed.

3. Women with chronic nephritis can become pregnant if their renal function is basically normal, the urine protein is small (trace or "+"), and they have been stable for a period of time. But you should pay attention to rest, increase nutrition, eat more protein-containing foods, supplement sufficient vitamins, and eat a light diet not too salty. Pay attention to increasing your body's resistance, avoid various infections, and check your kidney function regularly. Every prenatal checkup involves monitoring edema, weight gain, measuring blood pressure, and checking urine protein. For those who only have a small amount of proteinuria but no increased blood pressure, the pregnancy outcome is generally good if they strengthen their health care and receive careful monitoring during pregnancy. If chronic nephritis has been confirmed, it is best to undergo sterilization surgery after one pregnancy. Even if the fetus unfortunately dies, do not risk getting pregnant again. It has been clinically confirmed that every pregnancy will aggravate nephritis and shorten the patient's life.