Fast Facts: Kidneys (Nephrology)

Did you know over 17 million Americans suffer from Chronic Kidney Disease and if trends persist, this number will increase 165% by 2050? Approximately 458,000 Americans suffer from End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), 400,000 of whom are either on dialysis or require a kidney transplant. This number increases by about 6 percent each year. In the last decade, the number of patients diagnosed with ESRD has risen 93%. The vast majority of ESRD patients are over the age of 65 and are treated with hemodialysis. Diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure) are the number one and number two causes of kidney disease, respectively; diabetes accounts for 35% of all new ESRD cases.

Dialysis is not a cure for kidney disease. This life-saving, blood-filtering process is strenuous, expensive and comes with severe dietary and lifestyle restrictions. ESRD is 4 times more likely to occur in African-Americans, 3 times more likely to occur in Hispanics and Native Americans, and 2 times more likely to occur in Asian Americans than in Caucasians.

Over the past 10 years, Medicare costs for treatment of ESRD have increased 129%. These expenses account for 5.8% of Medicare’s overall annual budget. This results in an approximate cost of $13.82 billion annually to support and treat ESRD patients. These skyrocketing costs are due to both the increase in patients and the cost of newer, more effective medications and treatment processes. Medical research remains the best hope to reduce human suffering and the enormous Medicare costs imposed by ESRD.