Women and kidney disease

Women have a "female advantage" when it comes to chronic kidney disease. When compared to men, they have fewer and less severe episodes of this disorder throughout most of their lives. That advantage disappears, however, when the woman is diabetic. For reasons still unclear, diabetic women -- regardless of age -- are diagnosed with kidney and heart diseases almost as frequently as men. Their findings suggest that sex hormones play a significant role in the development of diabetic kidney disease.