Does uremia transmit to others?

Written by Li Liu Sheng
Nephrology
Updated on March 24, 2025
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Uremia is not contagious to others because it is not an infectious disease. Uremia is a severe renal failure, so patients with uremia can interact, communicate, live, work, and study with healthy people without the need for gastrointestinal or respiratory isolation. Normally, if a patient with uremia is stable, they can engage in sexual activities and the disease will not be transmitted through sexual contact. Uremia usually presents symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, edema, and increased blood pressure. Therefore, patients with uremia need to undergo dialysis treatment. They can choose either hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis. Dialysis treatment can significantly improve the symptoms of uremia and enhance the quality of life of the patients.

Other Voices

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Can holding urine lead to uremia?

Holding urine will not cause uremia. Holding urine may lead to bladder fullness, and after a long time, it might cause dilation of the ureters, but it will not lead to uremia. Uremia is caused by renal insufficiency or end-stage renal failure, characterized by significantly increased creatinine and urea nitrogen in the patient's body, with reduced urine output or even anuria. Once uremia is diagnosed, it generally requires hospitalization for dialysis treatment, which involves removing toxins from the body through dialysis. Additionally, it is advised to consume nutritionally rich foods in daily life.

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How to diagnose uremia

Uremia primarily refers to high levels of creatinine in the blood. Generally, a creatinine blood test can be used to evaluate kidney function, thus diagnosing whether the kidneys are in a compensatory stage, in a chronic stage, or during a period of uremia. Renal insufficiency, which causes uremia, has specific causes. It is essential to determine whether the causes are renal or post-renal by performing routine urinary system CT scans to identify any obstructions, stones, or space-occupying lesions that may lead to hydronephrosis and a decline in renal function. Other internal medical diseases, such as chronic nephritis syndrome and kidney disease, can also lead to increased creatinine levels. In such cases, renal biopsy and pathology are necessary to confirm the diagnosis. Once an individual reaches the uremic stage, the overall condition tends to deteriorate, characterized by fatigue, anorexia, and weight loss. Additional issues include toxin accumulation in the body leading to anemia and various other problems, including gastrointestinal issues and reduced digestive capacity resulting in loss of appetite. When the aforementioned symptoms occur, there generally are only two treatment options: dialysis to filter out the toxins or, if an appropriate kidney source is available and economically feasible, kidney transplantation can be considered.

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Is uremia cancer?

Uremia is not cancer. Chronic kidney failure refers to the presence of various kidney diseases that lead to a progressive and irreversible decline in kidney function, culminating in a series of symptoms and metabolic disorders that form a clinical syndrome, commonly known as chronic kidney failure. The end stage of chronic kidney failure is what is often referred to as uremia. Uremia is not a separate disease, but a clinical syndrome common to various late-stage kidney diseases. It is a symptom consisting of a series of clinical manifestations that occur when chronic kidney failure enters its terminal stage. Typically, this includes disturbances in water and electrolyte acid-base metabolism, with metabolic acidosis and water-electrolyte imbalance being the most common.

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Is high creatinine uremia?

High creatinine levels do not necessarily indicate uremia. High creatinine often implies that the patient is experiencing renal failure, which can be classified into acute renal failure and chronic renal failure based on factors such as the patient's medical history and course of the disease. Uremia is the final state of chronic renal failure. Thus, even if high creatinine levels suggest the possibility of chronic renal failure, it does not necessarily mean that the patient has reached the final stage. Uremia, also known as end-stage renal disease, generally requires a patient's blood creatinine to exceed 707 µmol/L. Additionally, patients often simultaneously present with clinical manifestations such as renal anemia, disorders of calcium and phosphorus metabolism, and reduction in kidney size.

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Is uremia serious?

Uremia is very serious. For patients with uremia who wish to be cured, the current method is to undergo kidney transplantation. Kidney transplantation is currently considered the best method for treating uremia. If no suitable kidney source is found, or economic conditions do not allow, or for some other reasons, it is recommended that patients undergo dialysis. Dialysis is also quite expensive, but if economic conditions permit, and physical health and mood among other factors allow, patients with uremia who undergo regular dialysis can generally have their lives extended by several years. It is not uncommon to see reports of lives being extended by more than a decade.