Why There Is Hypoproteinemia in Nephrotic Syndrome

Hypoproteinemia is one of the symptoms, or we can say complications of Nephrotic Syndrome. It is caused by the serious insufficiency of protein in blood. But, why people with Nephrotic Syndrome suffer from this problem more easily?

Nephrotic Syndrome is closely related with hypoproteinemia, as Nephrotic Syndrome can cause hypoproteinemia directly. Nephrotic Syndrome is a diagnosed when proteinuria is severe enough (usually >3.5g/d). Protein is a the essential substance of our body and it accounts for about 16% to 20% of our body weight. We can say, no protein no life. Therefore, long-term losing of protein from urine is very harmful to our body.

For people with Nephrotic Syndrome, if they do not control their illness conditions, Nephrotic Syndrome will become more and more serious, leading to the deterioration of proteinuria. More and more protein leak into urine as the deterioration of proteinuria and when Nephrotic Syndrome develops to a certain stage, hypoproteinemia occurs.

As one of the leading symptoms of Nephrotic Syndrome, hypoproteinemia affects Nephrotic Syndrome patient's life seriously. For instance, hypoproteinemia impairs patient's immunity and make them are at high risk of developing infection and cold. We know infection and cold are the leading two factors that can accelerate and trigger kidney problem. Once Nephrotic Syndrome patients catch cold or infection, their disease may deteriorate to kidney failure within several months and even several weeks. For another instance, hypoproteinemia affects mental development and physical development seriously, so for children with Nephrotic Syndrome, it is very significant to prevent hypoproteinemia in advance.

Since we know hypoproteinemia occurs due to great loss of protein, controlling proteinuria and stopping much more protein leak into urine is very helpful for preventing hypoproteinemia. In many cases, Nephrotic Syndrome patients are suggested to control protein intake, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing protein in urine. Actually, limiting protein intake is not the real solution, and also serious limitation of protein intake also contributes to hypoproteinemia to some extend, so simply limitation of protein intake is far from enough. Nephrotic Syndrome patients need to repair kidney damages, so as to prevent protein leak into urine. Only in this way, can proteinuria be controlled, also can hypoproteinemia be avoided effectively.