UK Renal Registry 17th Annual Report: Chapter 5 Survival and Cause of Death in UK Adult Patients on Renal Replacement Therapy in 2013: National and Centre-specific Analyses

Abstract

Introduction: The analyses presented in this chapter examine (a) survival from the start of RRT of adult RRT patients; (b) projected life years remaining for adult patients starting RRT; (c) survival amongst prevalent adult dialysis patients alive on 31st December 2012; (d) the death rate in the UK compared to the general population; (e) cause of death for incident and prevalent adult RRT patients.

Methods: Survival of incident patients was calculated both from the start of RRT and from 90 days after start. One year survival for prevalent dialysis patients were calculated by following patients up for one year in 2013. The relative risk of death was compared with the general UK population.

Results: The age adjusted one year after 90 day survival for patients starting RRT in 2012 was 91.0% (90.9% in 2011). Age adjusted one year survival for prevalent dialysis patients remained relatively unchanged at 89.3% from the previous year. The age-standardised mortality ratio for prevalent RRT patients compared with the general population was 16.2 for age group 35–39 and 2.6 at age 85+ years. In the prevalent RRT dialysis population, cardiovascular disease accounted for 27% of deaths, infection and other causes for 21% each and treatment withdrawal for 16% of deaths.The median life years remaining for a 25–29 year old starting RRT was 18.5 years and approximately 2.4 years for a 75+year old.

Conclusions: Survival of patients starting RRT has improved substantially in last decade, overall, by age and for diabetic patients.