Final answer:
Dialysis patients often have hypertension and diabetes as additional chronic conditions, which contribute to the deterioration of kidney function, potentially leading to end-stage kidney disease.
Step-by-step explanation:
The two chronic medical conditions that dialysis patients frequently have in addition to kidney failure are hypertension and diabetes.
These conditions are interrelated with renal health because both can cause significant damage to the kidneys over time. High blood pressure, or hypertension, contributes to kidney failure by causing damage to the blood vessels in the kidneys, decreasing their ability to filter waste effectively. Similarly, diabetes can lead to a condition known as diabetic nephropathy, where high blood sugar levels cause damage to the small blood vessels in the kidneys. As a result, patients with either or both of these conditions are at a higher risk for developing chronic kidney disease and may require renal replacement therapy, such as hemodialysis or kidney transplantation.
In hemodialysis, a machine filters wastes, salts and fluid from the blood when the kidneys are no longer healthy enough to do this job adequately. This process is vital for patients with end-stage kidney disease to help maintain their health.