Current characteristics of dialysis therapy in Korea: 2015 registry data focusing on elderly patients

Abstract

Because of increases in the elderly population and diabetic patients, the proportion of elderly among dialysis patients has rapidly increased during the last decades. The mortality and morbidity of these elderly dialysis patients are obviously much higher than those of young patients, but large analytic studies about elderly dialysis patients' characteristics have rarely been published. The registry committee of the Korean Society of Nephrology has collected data about dialysis therapy in Korea through an Internet online registry program and analyzed the characteristics. A survey on elderly dialysis patients showed that more than 50% of elderly (65 years and older) patients had diabetic nephropathy as the cause of end-stage renal disease, and approximately 21% of elderly dialysis patients had hypertensive nephrosclerosis. The proportion of elderly hemodialysis (HD) patients with native vessel arteriovenous fistula as vascular access for HD was lower than that of young (under 65 years) HD patients (69% vs. 80%). Although the vascular access was poor and small surface area dialyzers were used for the elderly HD patients, the dialysis adequacy data of elderly patients were better than those of young patients. The laboratory data of elderly dialysis patients were not very different from those of young patients, but poor nutrition factors were observed in the elderly dialysis patients. Although small surface area dialyzers were used for elderly HD patients, the urea reduction ratio and Kt/V were higher in elderly HD patients than in young patients.

Clinical outcomes of kidney transplantation in older end‐stage renal disease patients: A nationwide cohort study

“…According to the Korean ESRD Registry data, just 8% of the total number of patients with ESRD were aged >60 years in 2004, which increased rapidly to 42% in 2014. According to this, the number and proportion of older patients undergoing kidney transplantation (KT) showed an almost sixfold increase, from 2% in 2000 to 11.6% in 2015 …”

“…According to this, the number and proportion of older patients undergoing kidney transplantation (KT) showed an almost sixfold increase, from 2% in 2000 to 11.6% in 2015. 3 KT offers a better quality of life, cardiovascular stability and improved survival in comparison with PD or HD in older ESRD patients. Hence, several studies suggest that patients should not be excluded from KT merely because of old age.…”

Three‐year income trends in Korean adults commencing haemodialysis: A prospective cohort

“…1 In Korea, 12 011 patients reached ESRD in 2015, and this number has nearly tripled over the last decade. 2 Because these patients have far higher morbidity and mortality than the general population, it is a major burden on the health care system. In many countries, including Korea, the health insurance system for patients with ESRD is comparatively wellestablished, which reduces the burden on individual patients.…”

Trend, not severity, of acute kidney injury affects graft outcome in deceased donor kidney transplantation

“…The primary outcome was graft failure requiring maintenance renal replacement therapy or an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of <15 mL/min/1.73 m 2 . We obtained information on graft failure from electrical medical records and the registry committee of the Korean Society of Nephrology …”

“…We obtained information on graft failure from electrical medical records and the registry committee of the Korean Society of Nephrology. 21 The secondary outcomes were DGF, biopsy-proven acute rejection (BPAR), annual graft function, and patient survival. DGF was defined as the need for dialysis within the first week following transplantation.…”