[Chronic renal failure: an epidemic?]

Abstract

End-stage renal disease affects more than 70,000 persons in France, i.e., 1,1 per 1000 people, of whom 53% are on dialysis and 47% are living with a functioning graft. This prevalence increases about 4% per year. Overall, end-stage renal disease incidence tends to stabilize, except in persons aged 75 years or older and in those with diabetes in whom it continues to rise. About 30% of the patients treated for end-stage renal disease start dialysis on an emergency basis, indicating the persistence and frequency of inadequate care in the advanced stage of chronic kidney disease, whatever the reasons for it. Screening of chronic kidney disease includes measures of both urinary albumin- or protein-to-creatinine ratio and serum creatinine, preferably with an enzymatic assay, and estimation of glomerular filtration rate with new equations such as MDRD. Highest priority for targeted screening include patients with diabetes, hypertension or cardiovascular disease. Screening should also be considered in the elderly, in those obese, exposed to toxic drugs, with family history of chronic kidney disease or with personal history of low birth weight, nephrectomy, kidney or urinary tract cancers or chronic infections. Chronic kidney disease stages 1 to 3 is about 100 times more common than end-stage renal disease, mortality risk at these stages being much higher than to progress to end-stage. In the elderly, chronic kidney disease is extremely common, affecting about one person older than 70 years out of three, but only a fraction, higher in men than women, may have clinically relevant markers requiring appropriate care. Glomerular filtration rate decline with age should be monitored regularly and drug doses adjusted in order to prevent adverse effects.