How common is CKD?
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is common.
The best estimate of diagnosed and undiagnosed CKD in Australia comes from the 1999–2000 Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle (AusDiab) study, which found:
- 16% of participants had at least one indicator of kidney disease (Atkins et al. 2004; Chadban et al. 2003)
- 30% of those aged over 65 years had CKD at stages 3–5.
Indigenous Australians are more likely to have CKD than non-Indigenous Australians.
There are currently no national data available in Australia on the number of people who develop CKD each year.
Deaths
CKD is a significant contributor to mortality in Australia.
- In 2007, CKD contributed to over 13,000 deaths in Australia. This is 10% of all deaths in that year.
- For 1 in 5 of these deaths, CKD was the underlying cause – that is, CKD initiated the events that led to death.
- Males died from CKD at 1.7 times the rate of females.
- Age-standardised mortality rates remained relatively stable between 2000 and 2007 (Figure 1). Where CKD was not the underlying cause, cardiovascular diseases were the most common underlying causes, highlighting the well-established relationship between cardiovascular disease and CKD.
Hospitalisations
CKD hospitalisations are common.
- In 2007-08, CKD contributed to 15% (1.2 million) of hospitalisations in Australia, one million of which were for dialysis (Table 1).
- Dialysis treatment is the most common reason for hospitalisation in Australia.
- People living in remote and very remote areas are more likely to be hospitalised for CKD.
- People from more disadvantaged areas are more likely to be hospitalised for CKD.
- Excluding dialysis, Indigenous Australians were hospitalised for CKD as a principal or additional diagnosis at 5 times the rate of other Australians.
Table 1: Hospitalisations for CKD, 2007–08
|
Number of hospitalisations:
Males |
Number of hospitalisations:
Females |
Number of hospitalisations:
Persons(b) |
Hospitalisations
per 100,000 (a):
Males |
Hospitalisations
per 100,000 (a):
Females |
Hospitalisations
per 100,000 (a):
Persons |
| Regular dialysis |
587,402 |
399,423 |
986,825 |
5,576.7 |
3,477.4 |
4,444.9 |
| CKD as a principal diagnosis (excluding regular dialysis) |
14,930 |
15,773 |
31,167 |
141.9 |
141.3 |
140.1 |
| CKD as an additional diagnosis |
95,328 |
72,076 |
167,628 |
939.8 |
578.3 |
735.1 |
| Total CKD hospitalisations |
697,660 |
487,272 |
1,185,620 |
6,658.4 |
4,197.0 |
5,320.0 |
| Total hospitalisations in Australia |
3,724,423 |
4,149,381 |
7,873,946 |
35,323.2 |
36,976.9 |
35,913.4 |
(a) Directly age-standardised to the 2001 Australian population.
(b) Persons includes those for whom sex was not stated.
Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database
Expenditure
CKD is a substantial contributor to health care expenditure.
- In 2004-05, CKD accounted for almost $900 million, equating to 1.7% of total health care expenditure.
- Dialysis is the major contributor to this expenditure, accounting for two-thirds of total CKD expenditure.
Tables for figures
Figure 1: Trends in CKD mortality (number per 100,000 population) where CKD is the underlying cause of death, 2000–2007
| Year |
Males |
Females |
| 2000 |
14.4 |
10.6 |
| 2001 |
14.4 |
10.2 |
| 2002 |
14.7 |
11.1 |
| 2003 |
14.0 |
10.4 |
| 2004 |
13.9 |
9.6 |
| 2005 |
13.0 |
9.9 |
| 2006 |
14.9 |
10.0 |
| 2007 |
14.7 |
11.5 |