Chronic kidney disease is common in the general population with an estimated prevalence of roughly 2 million in Germany. Typically, chronic kidney disease is progressive and in the terminal stage the patients require dialysis or kidney transplantation. In many cases the disease remains silent for a long time but early stages are already associated with increasing morbidity and mortality. Therefore early detection is very important. In recent years several new concepts have been introduced that might help to slow the progression of chronic kidney disease or improve the accompanying risks. Here, we want to provide a nephrologist's perspective on the current guidelines for the treatment and prevention of chronic kidney disease. We summarize which diagnostic approaches are useful for general practitioners and we take a pragmatic look at the existing opportunities for combating renal functional decline. We also shed light on established measures to minimize the risk of comorbidities.
Keywords: Antihypertensive agents; Diabetes mellitus; Disease progression; Glomerular filtration rate; Vaccination, influenza.