As of December 31, 2009, the United States had 571,414 end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients, up 3.8% from 549,265 patients a year before, according to the 2011 U.S. Renal Data System Annual Data Report.
The 571,414 patients includes 398,861 on dialysis and 172,553 with a functional kidney transplant.
In addition, 116,395 patients started treatment for ESRD in 2009. Of these, 113,636 started dialysis, an increase of 3.3% from the previous year, and another 2,759 had a preemptive renal transplant as their first ESRD treatment modality, according to the report.
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The report noted that racial and ethnic discrepancies persist. The 2009 ESRD incidence rates for African Americans and Native Americans were 3.5 times and 1.9 times greater, respectively, than the rate for whites. In addition, the rate for Hispanics was 1.5 times greater than that of non-Hispanics.
The report stated that the rate of ESRD cases per one million population has been relatively stable since 2000 and increased by only 1.1% in 2009 to 355 cases per million population.
“Growth in the incident population continues to be driven by a linear increase in the number of patients age 45-64; growth in the population age 65 and older, in contrast, has slowed considerably,” according to the report.
