END STAGE RENAL DISEASE – AN INTRODUCTION

End stage renal disease or ESRD is a term used for advanced kidney failure which is usually irreversible and needs to be treated with either dialysis or a kidney transplant.

Dialysis is a term for different methods used to filter the blood and remove toxins that can then keep a patient alive in the absence of working kidneys.

Transplantation is a surgical procedure that is performed to implant a kidney from either a living or a deceased donor in a patient with ESRD.

EXTENT OF ESRD IN THE US

According to the most recent data, approximately 660.000 individuals have ESRD in the US.

Almost 58 % of these patients are male and most of the patients are between the ages of 45 to 64 (44 %).

Six out of 10 patients are white and three out of 10 are African-Americans.
ESRD is increasing by 5 % every year.

The most common condition leading to ESRD is diabetes (37 %), followed by high blood pressure (25 %), glomerulonephritis (17 %) and cystic kidney disease (5 %). Other less common conditions are responsible for the remainder of cases.

Approximately 90,000 patients die annually due to ESRD.

After one year of treatment, those on dialysis have a 20-25 % mortality rate, with a five year survival rate of 35 %. On the other hand, patients who have received a transplant have a 3 % mortality rate after 5 years.

COST OF TREATMENT OF ESRD IN THE US

According to data released by Medicare, approximately  $ 31 billion was spent in 2016 for the treatment of ESRD.

Patients with ESRD are 1 % of the US Medicare population but account for 7 % of  the Medicare budget.

Hemodialysis treatment costs an average of  $ 89,000 per patient every year.

Kidney transplant costs an average of $ 32,000 (surgical cost) and $ 25,000 per year post-surgery.