Increase in Kidney Diseases But Dialysis, Kidney Transplant Patients Living Longer: Study

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A new study suggested that the rates of end-stage kidney diseases continue to rise but patients who had kidney transplant and dialysis survives longer.

According to UPI, the United States Renal Data System and the University of Michigan learned a positive and negative fact in their annual report. The good thing is that the treatment of patients with kidney disease has improved. Unfortunately, despite the said progress, more individuals developed kidney problems in the last two decades.

According to the University of Michigan press release, the highlights of the study include the following:

•  The casualty among dialysis and kidney transplant patients dropped by 28 percent and 40 percent since 1996 respectively.

•  The dialysis patients population rise by 4 percent in 2013 reaching 466, 607. At the time, it is already 63.2 percent higher than in 2000. This suggested that there is a growing case of end-stage kidney disease. The condition where the kidney can no longer remove the waste and excess water from the body making dialysis and kidney transplant a necessity.

•  The rate of patients doing home dialysis is 52 percent higher than a decade ago.

•  Patients waiting for kidney transplants have grown 2.7 folds more than the supply of kidney donors. In 2013, 17,600 kidney transplants were performed.

Rajiv Saran, M.D., professor of internal medicine at U-M Health System and director of the USRDS coordinating center, suggested that the overall trends for end-stage kidney disease are promising for those affected.

"Patients on dialysis are living longer and equally positive, survival rates have steadily improved among recipients of both living and deceased donor kidney transplants," he said.

Although the study highlighted both positive and negative trends, Saran noted that it is important to consider the areas that need improvement. He explained how one's lifestyle could lead to this illness.

"Several lifestyle-related chronic health conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and other cardiovascular diseases can contribute to kidney disease," said Saran. "Monitoring and early treatment of those conditions are key to prevention, and can help patients keep their kidney disease under control."

The medical professional also stressed that there is still low awareness of kidney disease. In fact, the rates of screening for the said condition by urine testing remain low even among individual with risk factors for the disease. Saran explained that it is important to learn about the disease in its early stage to prevent it from progressing.

The study is published in the United States Renal Data System annual data report.