Report: Kidney disease in China to spike in 10-20 years

As the diabetic population in China continues to rise, if interventions are not appropriately implemented among the population, the prevalence of end-stage renal disease will peak within 10 to 20 years, due to the growth of diabetic kidney disease patients, bringing an unbearable disease burden to China's healthcare system, according to a report released by the National Institute of Health Data Science at Peking University.

About 21.3 percent of Chinese diabetic patients have chronic kidney disease, and it is estimated there are about 24.3 million patients with diabetic kidney disease in China. Of these patients, 60.5 percent have light proteinuria despite having normal renal functions, and the presence of abnormal quantities of protein in the urine may indicate damage to the kidneys, the institute analyzed.

It is urgent to promote the establishment of a national kidney disease surveillance system based on existing multisource databases, and use big data to bring new opportunities for the monitoring and management of kidney disease, the report suggested.

Chronic kidney disease patients in China have obvious regional and urban-rural differences, and it is necessary to strengthen kidney specialist resources and related medical services in primary hospitals, as well as accelerate the construction of regional kidney disease clinics, it said.

End-stage renal disease consumes a large amount of medical resources in China, the report said. It suggested improving the affordability and accessibility of dialysis services in China, including improving medical insurance coverage as well as strengthening the construction of medical service systems and talent training nationwide, especially in rural and underprivileged areas.

According to the report, among hospitalized patients with chronic kidney disease, a larger proportion of them are men and over 50 percent of the total are under 60 years old.

The median hospitalization cost for hospitalized patients with chronic kidney disease is 30 percent higher than that of patients with nonchronic kidney disease.

Chronic kidney disease is closely related to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. About 18.2 percent of chronic kidney disease patients have coronary heart disease, and the figures for patients with heart failure and stroke are respectively 16 percent and 12.9 percent.

Mainstream dialysis in China is hemodialysis, accounting for 91 percent of dialysis patients.

The average age of dialysis patients in China is 55, younger than that in the United States and Japan.

The proportion of dialysis patients with cardiovascular disease is 45.5 percent, and that of diabetes is 27.1 percent.