Men's Health Month: Kidney Disease Won't Wait

June is Men's Health Month, and one pattern deserves particular attention in the kidney community: men are significantly less likely to seek medical care than women, and in kidney disease, that delay has serious consequences.

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, while chronic kidney disease (CKD) is slightly more common in women than in men, men are 1.6 times more likely to develop end-stage renal disease (ESRD), requiring life-sustaining kidney dialysis or a transplant. Researchers point to a well-documented pattern of men seeking care later, which allows kidney disease to progress further before it's caught.

The statistics on care-seeking are consistent. According to the American Heart Association, women are 33% more likely than men to visit a doctor annually for preventive care. A survey by the Cleveland Clinic found that 65% of men avoid going to the doctor as long as possible. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) progresses silently — nearly 90% of people with CKD don't know they have it. When men skip routine care, they also skip the blood pressure, blood sugar screenings, as well as comprehensive blood work that catch kidney disease.

Research published in the American Heart Association identifies the reasons men avoid care: stereotypical concepts of masculinity that frame toughness and self-sufficiency as incompatible with seeking help, a tendency to minimize symptoms, lower rates of having a regular primary care provider, and the expectation that things will resolve on their own. A study published in the American Journal of Nephrology found that men with CKD broadly recognized this pattern in themselves, acknowledging that women address health issues more promptly while men tend to delay. Recognition of the pattern, however, doesn't automatically change it.

The window for meaningful intervention in kidney disease is real and finite. CKD caught at an early stage can be managed with medication, dietary changes, and monitoring. CKD caught late often means significant and irreversible kidney damage has already occurred, leaving kidney dialysis or a kidney transplant as the only options.

If you're a man who hasn't had a routine checkup recently, particularly if you have high blood pressure, diabetes, a family history of kidney disease, or are over 60, a simple blood and urine test is all it takes to screen for CKD. It doesn't require symptoms. It just requires showing up.

Men's Health Month exists because the pattern of avoiding care and its subsequent consequences are preventable. For kidney disease, early detection changes the trajectory. It's that straightforward.