Symptoms of Nephritis in Women

Statistics have shown that women are more likely to develop lupus nephritis and pyelonephritis and the ratio between male and female are respectively 1/9 and 1/8 while men are more susceptible to acute nephritis and nephrotic syndrome. So why women have higher incidence of chronic nephritis and what are the symptoms of nephritis in women?

Generally speaking the symptoms and signs of weakened kidneys are thirsty, gloomy complexion, urinary frequency, urinary urgency, tiredness and pains in legs and back and in serious conditions there will be tinnitus, hematuria, blurred visions, etc.

Women usually have lower community compared with men and they are more susceptible to some auto-immune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, etc. And when the immune system is damages there will definitely be kidney damages.

Another reason is that the urinary tract in women is wider and straighter and it has direct connection with the bladder, so it is easy to catch infections and they are easy to have cystitis and urethritris. If these chronic diseases are not treated properly or timely, they will cause inflammations and infections in the kidneys, leading to chronic nephritis. That is why women have higher incidence of chronic nephritis than men.

Take lupus nephritis for example. It mainly occurs to women of childbearing ages (20-40). It is characterized by large amounts of auto-immune complexes in the plasma and many systems and organs will be involved. The most common systemic symptoms are fever, arthritis and skin mucosa damages. Liver, heart, central nervous system and hemopoietic organs will be affected. More than 1/3 patients will have multiple serositis (pleura and pericardium).

Besides these symptoms in the whole body, there are many symptoms and signs of kidney damages such as massive proteinuria, blood in urine and edema. Hypertension, reduced urine output and hypoalbuminemia are the main reasons of edema.