Kidney Disease Research Updates
Spring 2010
NIDDK Announces Availability of More Current
Kidney Disease Data
Incidence and prevalence data for end-stage kidney disease in the United States
are now available online from the U.S. Renal Data System (USRDS) a year
earlier than usual, announced the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive
and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). In addition, the data tables will be updated online
every 3 months and will show quarterly counts of patients.
“These tables provide preliminary estimates,
which may change minimally as additional
updates become available,” said Paul W. Eggers,
Ph.D., director of the NIDDK’s Kidney and
Urology Epidemiology Program. “However,
these frequent updates will allow researchers to
see and investigate trends sooner than previously
possible.”
The first of the new tables showed incidence and
prevalence counts through December 2008. As
the tables are updated quarterly, an additional
3 months of counts will be added. The next
update, in December 2009, included patient
counts through March 2009.
Previously, incidence and prevalence data were
available only through yearly updates of the
USRDS annual data report. Because the report
includes detailed data from multiple sources,
reporting lagged by about 18 months while data
were merged and verified. For example, the 2009
report, which became available in October 2009,
had complete data only through 2007.
Data from the USRDS are used by researchers,
government officials, health program planners,
and others to develop research goals, assess
public health needs, set program priorities, and
inform policymakers and the public.
The USRDS reports that more than half a
million people in the United States have end-stage
kidney disease, requiring frequent dialysis
treatments or a kidney transplant. People with
the disease account for just 1.2 percent of the
Medicare population, but they accounted for
7.3 percent of Medicare costs in 2007. The total
cost for the disease was $35.32 billion, including
coverage by Medicare and other payers, such as
employer group health plans.
The USRDS, funded by the NIDDK, collaborates
with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services, End-stage Renal Disease Networks,
and the United Network for Organ Sharing in
sharing data sets and improving the accuracy of
information.
The USRDS end-stage renal disease incident
and prevalent counts quarterly update is available at www.usrds.org/qtr/qrt_report_table_c_Q1_09.html.
The National Kidney and Urologic Diseases
Information Clearinghouse, an information
service of the NIDDK, has easy-to-read booklets
and fact sheets about kidney disease. For more
information, visit www.kidney.niddk.nih.gov.
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NIH Publication No. 10–4531
April 2010
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