Leading Causes of Kidney Failure

DISEASE
STATISTICS
High blood pressure (HBP) causes 25% of all cases of kidney failure. In 2009
it was the primary diagnosis for 139,910 kidney failure patients.
2
An estimated 73 million people have HBP; 31.6% of them are undiagnosed.
10
Most people (85%) participating in a 2011 nationwide survey by the American
Kidney Fund could not name high blood pressure as a leading cause of kidney
disease, yet most of them (75%) had a loved one with high blood pressure.
9
Diabetes causes 38.4% of all cases of kidney failure. In 2009 it was the
primary diagnosis for 214,909 kidney failure patients.
2
An estimated 25.8 million people have diabetes; 7 million of them are
undiagnosed.
8
About 40% of people with diabetes will develop CKD.
7
African Americans with diabetes are 2.5 to 5.6 times more likely than
whites to develop kidney disease.
6
Most people (69%) participating in a 2011 nationwide survey by the
American Kidney Fund could not name diabetes as a leading cause of kidney
disease, despite the fact that over half (55%) had a loved one with diabetes.
9
Kidney Failure by
Primary Diagnosis
2
Diabetes 38.4%
High Blood Pressure 25%
Glomerulonephritis 14.6%
Cystic/hereditary
congenital disease 7%
Interstitial nephritis/
pyelonephritis 3.7%
Secondary
GN/vasculitis 3.2 %
38.4%
Diabetes

25%
High Blood
Pressure
(HBP)
Diabetes
is the leading cause of kidney failure.
High Blood Pressure
is the 2
ND
leading cause of kidney failure.
Kidney disease is the 8
TH
leading cause of death in the United States.
1
An estimated 31 million people in the United States (10% of the population) have chronic
kidney disease (CKD).
2
9 out of 10 people who have stage 3 CKD (moderately decreased kidney function) do not know it.
3
CKD is more common among women, but men with CKD are 50% more likely than women
to progress to kidney failure (also called end-stage renal disease or ESRD).
4
Some racial and ethnic groups are at greater risk for kidney failure. Relative to whites, the
risk for

African Americans is 3.8 times higher, Native Americans is 2 times higher, Asians is
1.3 times higher, and Hispanics also have increased risk, relative to non-Hispanics.
5
1
2
Kidney Failure
In 2009 (the most recent statistics available), there were

116,395 new kidney
failure diagnoses, 571,414 people living with kidney failure and 90,118 deaths
among people with kidney failure.
2
Of the 398,861 people on dialysis in 2009, 380,760 were on hemodialysis (95% of
all dialysis patients) and 18,101 were on peritoneal dialysis (5% of all dialysis patients).
2

Kidney Transplants
In 2009, 172,553 people were living with functional kidney transplants. As of
February 2012, more than 90,000 people were on the waiting list for a kidney
transplant; in 2011, about 14,000 kidney transplants were performed.
11
Dialysis patients have adjusted all-cause mortality rates 6.5-7.4 times higher than
the general population; the rate is 1.1-1.6 times higher for transplant patients.
2



Cost of Treating Kidney Failure
In 2009, overall Medicare expenditures for people with CKD totaled $33.8 billion,
of that total, expenditures for people with CKD and diabetes accounted for $18 billion.
2
The savings to Medicare for each kidney disease patient who does not progress
on to dialysis is estimated to be $250,000.
7
In 2009, Medicare spent $29 billion (6.7% of its total budget) on kidney failure.
2
Treatment costs to Medicare per patient, per year in 2009 were:
2

$82,285 for hemodialysis patients
$61,588 for peritoneal dialysis patients
$29,983 for transplant patients*

*During the year that a kidney transplant takes place, Medicare spends about $98,000
for that patients treatment; however, Medicare spends only $11,000 per patient, per
year thereafter for the treatment of patients with functioning kidney transplants.
2
References
1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2009). Leading Causes of Death. Retrieved from www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm 2 US Renal Data System (2011). USRDS
2011 Annual Data Report: Atlas of Chronic Kidney Disease and End-Stage Renal Disease in the United States. National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and
Digestive and Kidney Disease. Bethesda, MD 3 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011). Kidney Disease. Retrieved from www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/kidbladd.htm
4 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2010). National Chronic Kidney Disease Fact Sheet. Retrieved from www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/factsheets/kidney.htm
5 National Kidney Disease Education Program (2011). Health Professionals: Chronic Kidney Disease Information. Retrieved from www.nkdep.nih.gov/professionals/
chronic_kidney_disease.htm#riskfactors 6 American Diabetes Association. Living With Diabetes, African Americans & Complications. Retrieved from www.diabetes.org/
living-with-diabetes/complications/african-americans-and-complications.html 7 Diabetes Leadership Initiative (2012). Addressing a Major Complication of Diabetes to
Reduce Health Care Costs. National Association of Chronic Disease Directors . Atlanta, GA. 8 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011) National Diabetes Fact Sheet
9 American Kidney Fund (2011) Pair Up Survey 10 National Stroke Association (2012). High Blood Pressure (Hypertension). Retrieved from www.stroke.org/site/PageServer
?pagename=HighBloodPressure 11 Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (2012). Retrieved from optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/data
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*
$100 K
$75 K
$50 K
$25 K
0
Medicare Expenditures
Per Patient/Per Year
for Kidney Failure
2
Kidney Failure Treatment
2
30%
Transplant
Patients
67%
Hemodialysis
Patients
3%
Peritoneal
Dialysis
Hemodialysis Patients 67%
Transplant Patients 30%
Peritoneal Dialysis 3%
2012 American Kidney Fund 08/12