Diary 101: The Burden of Kidney Failure

The following information is useful to all of us.

Each year in the United States, more than 100,000 people are diagnosed with kidney failure, a serious condition in which the kidneys fail to rid the body of wastes. Kidney failure is the final stage of chronic kidney disease (CKD).

In US, Diabetes is the most common cause of kidney failure, accounting for nearly 44%of new cases in 2005. The other important cause is high blood pressure (27%).

Even when diabetes is controlled, the disease can lead to CKD and kidney failure. Most people with diabetes do not develop CKD that is severe enough to progress to kidney failure.

Nearly 24 million people in the United States have diabetes, and nearly 180,000 people are living with kidney failure as a result of diabetes.

People with kidney failure undergo either dialysis, an artificial blood-cleaning process, or transplantation to receive a healthy kidney from a donor.

Reference Source: United States Renal Data System. USRDS 2007 Annual Data Report.