Thanks for contacting HCM with your health concern and this is how we suspcet chronic disease in my clinical practice: . Beginning of polyuria: urine ouptut 3 liters per day for which daily urine ouptut chart with fluid intake is required. . Development of anemia: blood picture is must . Speicific gravity becomes low (becomes fixed) . blood urea/serum creatinine : since excreted by kidney, so if kidney is diseases their, level rises. . If red blood cells are in urine think of either they are normal and in female she might be menstruating OR there is hematuria (urine infection/stone or malignancy) . If white blood cells are seen think of stone, UTI, renal tuberculosis and send the urine for culture & sensitivity. . Age: with age kidney functions decline so must be decided carefully . blood pressure: high BP is a risk factor for development of kidney hypertension likewise high blood sugar (diabetes) is cause of diabetic nephropathy. . with kidney disease the filtration rate reduces which increases the potassium level and increases swelling in the body (notably under eyelids).