Stage 3 chronic kidney disease (CKD)

Once you are diagnosed with stage 3 kidney disease, there is no way to treat the damage that has already been done to your kidneys. The following steps for your treatment have to do with treating the issues caused by decreased kidney functioning and preventing further damage.

What Is Stage 3 Kidney Disease Life Expectancy?

Kidney disease is a severe condition in which your kidneys slowly start to fail. This leads to a build-up of harmful elements in your blood that would otherwise be filtered out through your kidneys. If kidney disease progresses, you would eventually need to get dialysis or a kidney transplant to remain alive.

Stage 3 kidney disease means that the kidney’s function has been cut by half, and most patients experience ancillary problems like high blood pressure or bone difficulties.

‌A survey of 13 studies on stage 3 kidney disease found that the all-cause mortality rate varied from 6% in 3 years to 51% in ten years. However, it also found that progression of kidney damage into stage 4 kidney disease was sporadic. The study found that people with stage 3B were often more at risk for mortality and other diseases than people with stage 3A kidney disease.

Impact of Stage 3 Kidney Disease on Your Health

Depending on how far your kidney disease has progressed, you will fit into one of the five stages of kidney disease. These stages are measured by your glomerular filtration rate or your GFR. Having stage 3 kidney disease means that you will have a GFR between 30 and 59.

Most people who have stage 3 kidney disease will not have any symptoms. However, if you do, it can manifest as swelling in your hands or feet, back pain, or irregular urination patterns.

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The more impactful symptoms of kidney disease stage 3 are the health implications of your decreased kidney functioning such as high blood pressure, anemia, and bone disease.

Ultimately, if stage 3 kidney disease goes untreated or progresses further, you will enter into stage 4 kidney disease. Stage 4 kidney disease is severe, as are its symptoms. It is also the last stage of kidney disease before kidney failure; at this point, you will need to talk to your doctor to prepare for kidney failure. ‌

If your kidneys fail, you will either need to have dialysis or a kidney transplant. Dialysis is a treatment that will clean your blood. You will need to think about which kind of dialysis you will want, as there are different types available. The other option, a kidney transplant, is when you find a donor who gives you a healthy kidney from their body. If you get a transplant, you will not need to do dialysis.

Treatment of Kidney Disease Stage 3

Once you are diagnosed with stage 3 kidney disease, there is no way to treat the damage that has already been done to your kidneys. The following steps for your treatment have to do with treating the issues caused by decreased kidney functioning and preventing further damage.

These treatments include:

• Keeping regular appointments with your doctor, neurologist, or any other specialist you may need to see
• Managing your blood sugar (if you have diabetes)
• Avoiding medications that further damage your kidneys
• Monitoring and managing your blood pressure
• Changing your diet to limit protein, high-cholesterol foods, salt, and potassium
• Not smoking
• Exercising and staying active
• Monitoring your weight to remain healthy
• Attending to anemia (if you have it)

Additionally, you may need to take medications. Which medications and even if you need to take them entirely depends on the cause of your kidney disease. Some of these medications could be:

• An angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor which lowers your blood pressure
• An angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) which would also lower your blood pressure
• Diuretics to help flush out waste
• Any type of medication that could help lower your cholesterol
• Erythropoietin which helps build red blood cells for people who struggle with anemia
• Vitamin D to strengthen the bones and avoid bone loss
• A phosphate binder (if you are struggling to eliminate phosphate)

What To Expect With Stage 3 Kidney Disease

As stated earlier, stage 3 kidney disease does not often statistically lead to stage 4 kidney disease. However, it also does predispose someone to mortality more than not having any kidney disease at all.

‌If you have stage 3 kidney disease, you shouldn’t expect to feel many severe symptoms. It should be a time to reevaluate your habits, make treatment plans with your doctor or doctors, and focus on staying healthy. The most important elements to preventing kidney failure are keeping medical appointments, taking your medications, having a healthy lifestyle, and monitoring your blood pressure and blood sugar.

Show Sources

‌American Kidney Fund: “Stages of Chronic Kidney Disease.”

‌British Journal of General Practice: “Does stage-3 chronic kidney disease matter?: A systematic literature review.”

‌Cleveland Clinic: “Kidney Disease/Chronic Kidney Disease.”

‌National Kidney Foundation: “Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) Symptoms and causes,” “Key Points: Living With Stage 4 Kidney Disease.”

Stage 3 chronic kidney disease (CKD)

In Stage 3 CKD, your eGFR is between 30 and 59. You may also have protein in your urine (i.e., your pee). Your kidneys have damage that affects how well they work, and you may start to notice symptoms. This damage normally is not reversible, but there’s a lot you can do to slow further kidney damage.

Medically reviewed by AKF’s Medical Advisory Committee Last updated October 20, 2022

Jump to

• What is Stage 3 CKD?
• How can doctors tell my stage of CKD?
• The stages of chronic kidney disease

What is Stage 3 CKD?

In Stage 3 CKD, your kidneys have mild to moderate damage, and they are less able to filter waste and fluid out of your blood. This waste can build up in your body and begin to harm other areas, such as to cause high blood pressure, anemia and problems with your bones. This buildup of waste is called uremia.

Stage 3 CKD is split into 2 sub-stages based on your eGFR:

Stage 3a means you have an eGFR between 45 and 59, and Stage 3b means you have an eGFR between 30 and 44.

How serious is Stage 3 CKD?

You might think of Stage 3 CKD as a “middle stage” of kidney disease. Your kidneys are damaged, but they still work well enough that you do not need dialysis or a kidney transplant.

Kidney disease often cannot be cured in Stage 3, and damage to your kidneys normally is not reversible. However, with treatment and healthy life changes, many people in Stage 3 do not move to Stage 4 or Stage 5, which is kidney failure.

What are the symptoms of Stage 3 CKD?

Some people with Stage 3 CKD do not have any symptoms. But for many people with CKD, Stage 3 is when their kidney disease begins to affect their health, and they start to notice symptoms.

Symptoms of Stage 3 CKD may include:

• Feeling weak and tired
• Swelling in your hands or feet
• Skin that feels dry or itchy
• Pain in your lower back
• Muscle cramps
• Trouble sleeping
• Restless leg syndrome (an uncomfortable feeling in your legs that makes it hard to sit still or fall asleep)
• Urinating more or less often than normal
• Urine that is foamy or darker in color than usual

How can doctors tell my stage of CKD?

It is common for people to find out they have CKD when they are in Stage 3 because this is when many people first have symptoms of kidney disease.

To find out what stage of CKD you are in, doctors will do tests, such as:

How can doctors tell what caused my CKD?

To try and find out what caused your CKD, your doctor may do other tests, including:

• Blood pressure checks
• Urine tests
• Imaging tests to take detailed pictures of the inside of your body, such as ultrasound, CT scan or MRI
• Kidney biopsy (a procedure where doctors take a small piece of tissue from your kidneys to look at it under a microscope)
• Genetic testing (if doctors suspect a rare disease or one that runs in your family)

How do doctors treat Stage 3 CKD?

Doctors treat Stage 3 CKD with medicines that help with your symptoms and with other health problems kidney disease can cause, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

These medicines include:

• Blood pressure medicines like ACE inhibitors and ARBs (even if you do not have high blood pressure, these medicines can help slow the damage to your kidneys to keep them working well as long as possible)
• Diabetes medicines to keep your blood sugar at a healthy level (even if you do not have diabetes)
• Calcium and vitamin D supplements to keep your bones strong
• Diuretics to help with swelling (these are medicines that help your kidneys get rid of salt and water and make you urinate more)
• Iron supplements to help with anemia (not enough red blood cells in your body)

You may also need to stop taking certain medicines that can worsen the damage to your kidneys, such as pain medicines called NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and some arthritis medicines. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take–even ones they did not prescribe.

If you do not have a nephrologist (kidney doctor), talk to your regular doctor about finding one. You and your nephrologist can work together to make a treatment plan just for you. Your nephrologist will also do lab tests to check your kidney health often, usually every 90 days (about three months).

How can I slow down the damage to my kidneys?

Healthy life changes can make a big difference in how you feel and can help keep your kidneys working well for as long as possible. Eating kidney-friendly foods in the right amounts is one of the best ways to slow the damage to your kidneys from CKD and to feel your best. A dietitian is a nutrition expert who can look at results from your lab tests and help you plan healthy meals and snacks you’ll want to eat: your “kidney diet.”

Here are other healthy changes that will help slow the damage to your kidneys:

• Be active for at least 30 minutes on most days of the week. This can be anything from walking or riding a bike to swimming or dancing.
• If you have diabetes, follow your treatment plan to keep your blood sugar within your target range.
• Quit smoking or using tobacco.

The stages of chronic kidney disease

CKD is broken down into five stages based on the amount of damage to your kidneys and how well they still work.