*Updated as of 8/6/2024
Kidney disease, also known as “chronic kidney disease (CKD),” causes more deaths each year than breast cancer or prostate cancer. It is the under-recognized public health crisis.
American Cancer Society (ACS). Key Statistics for Breast Cancer in Men. Last Revised January 19, 2024.
https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/breast-cancer-in-men/about/key-statistics.html
[“About 530 men will die from breast cancer.”]
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S. Cancer Statistics Female Breast Cancer Stat Bite. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2024. Published June 13, 2024.
https://www.cdc.gov/united-states-cancer-statistics/publications/breast-cancer-stat-bite.html
[“…in 2022, 42,211 females died from breast cancer.”]
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). U.S. Cancer Statistics Prostate Cancer Stat Bite. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2023. Published June 13, 2024.
https://www.cdc.gov/united-states-cancer-statistics/publications/prostate-cancer-stat-bite.html
[“…in 2022, 33,363 males died from prostate cancer”]
Leading Causes of Death. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); National Center for Health Statistics. Last Reviewed: May 2, 2024.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm
[#9 Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 57,937]
Polkinghorne KR. ESKD or cancer: given the choice, which would you rather have? AJKD. 2019 April 22;73(6):753-755.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1053/j.ajkd.2019.01.037
https://www.ajkd.org/article/S0272-6386(19)30169-6/fulltext
About 35.5 million U.S. adults are estimated to have kidney disease—that’s more than 1 in 7 (14%).
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic Kidney Disease in the United States, 2023. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2023.
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/php/data-research/index.html https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/media/pdfs/CKD-Factsheet-H.pdf
United States Renal Data System. 2023 USRDS Annual Data Report: Epidemiology of Kidney Disease in the United States. National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD, 2023.
https://usrds-adr.niddk.nih.gov/2023/chronic-kidney-disease/1-ckd-in-the-general-population
[Chronic Kidney Disease: Chapter 1 CKD in the General Population; Highlights Bullet #1]
About 9 in 10 adults with kidney disease (≈90%) do not know they have it.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic Kidney Disease in the United States, 2023. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2023.
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/php/data-research/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/media/pdfs/CKD-Factsheet-H.pdf
People with kidney disease may not feel ill or notice symptoms until the disease is advanced.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic Kidney Disease in the United States, 2023. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2023.
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/php/data-research/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/media/pdfs/CKD-Factsheet-H.pdf
About 1 in 3 (40%) of adults with severe kidney disease* don’t know they have it.
*(Stage 4-5; eGFR <29).
Stages of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). National Kidney Foundation.
https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/stages-chronic-kidney-disease-ckd
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic Kidney Disease in the United States, 2023. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2023.
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/php/data-research/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/media/pdfs/CKD-Factsheet-H.pdf
Chronic Kidney Disease Basics. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Published February 1, 2024.
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/about/index.html
1 in 3 adults in the U.S. (33%) is at risk for kidney disease.
NOTE: Estimate of 1 in 3 (approx. 86 million) adults at risk for CKD is based on U.S. prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. Without proper treatment, 1 in 3 will develop CKD.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic Kidney Disease in the United States, 2023. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2023.
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/php/data-research/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/media/pdfs/CKD-Factsheet-H.pdf
Kidney disease is the 8th leading cause of death in the U.S.
Ahmad FB, Cisewski JA, Anderson RN. Mortality in the United States — Provisional Data, 2023. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2024;73:677–681. DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7331a1
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/mm7331a1.htm
Rahhal N. CDC reveals leading causes of death for the past 5 years. Here are 5 key takeaways. Yahoo Life. August 8, 2024. Accessed August 8, 2024.
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/cdc-reveals-leading-causes-of-death-for-the-past-5-years-here-are-5-key-takeaways-171231678.html
About 1 in 3 adults with diabetes and 1 in 5 adults with high blood pressure may have kidney disease.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic Kidney Disease in the United States, 2023. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2023.
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/php/data-research/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/media/pdfs/CKD-Factsheet-H.pdf
Diabetes is the most common cause of kidney disease. Diabetes and hypertension cause or contribute to 2 of 3 new cases of kidney failure.
A to Z Health Guide: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). Kidney.org. Accessed February 12, 2024.
https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/about-chronic-kidney-disease#about-chronic-kidney-disease-ckd
A to Z Health Guide: Diabetes - A Major Risk Factor for Kidney Disease. Kidney.org. Accessed August 2, 2024.
https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/diabetes
Causes of Chronic Kidney Disease. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Last Reviewed October 2016. Accessed May 20, 2024.
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/kidney-disease/chronic-kidney-disease-ckd/causes
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic Kidney Disease in the United States, 2023: Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2023.
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/php/data-research/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/media/pdfs/CKD-Factsheet-H.pdf
Chronic Kidney Disease Basics. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Published February 1, 2024.
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/about/index.html
High Blood Pressure and Kidney Disease. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Last Reviewed March 2020. Accessed May 20, 2024.
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/kidney-disease/high-blood-pressure
Kidney Disease Statistics for the United States: Fast Facts on Kidney Disease. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Last reviewed May 2023. Accessed May 20, 2024.
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/kidney-disease
Risk Factors for Chronic Kidney Disease. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed August 2, 2024.
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/risk-factors/index.html
Two simple tests (blood/urine) can detect kidney disease early. Earliest detection is crucial so that further damage can be slowed or stopped.
A to Z Health Guide: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). Kidney.org. Accessed May 20, 2024.
https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/about-chronic-kidney-disease#about-chronic-kidney-disease-ckd
[See: "Diagnosis"]
12 people die every day while on a waiting list for a kidney transplant.
Lentine KL, Smith JM, Lyden GR, Miller JM, Dolan TG, Bradbrook K, Larkin L, Temple K, Handarova DK, Weiss S, Israni AK, Snyder JJ. OPTN/SRTR 2022 Annual Data Report: Kidney. Am J Transplant. 2024 Feb;24(2S1):S19-S118.
doi: 10.1016/j.ajt.2024.01.012. PMID: 38431360.
https://www.amjtransplant.org/article/S1600-6135(24)00077-7/fulltext
[See “Graphical abstract”:
https://www.amjtransplant.org/cms/attachment/2acafeda-7d4c-4ee8-9ab4-5a1f05640cff/ga1_lrg.jpg ]
Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR). OPTN/SRTR 2022 Annual Data Report. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration; 2024. Accessed May 20, 2024.
http://srtr.transplant.hrsa.gov/annual_reports/Default.aspx
https://srtr.transplant.hrsa.gov/annual_reports/2022_ADR_Preview.aspx
[OPTN/SRTR 2022 Annual Data Report: Kidney; Section 2 Adult Kidney Transplant; 2.1 Waiting List: “There were 4,454 waitlist removals due to death in 2022…” https://srtr.transplant.hrsa.gov/annual_reports/2022/Kidney.aspx
4454/365 = 12.20]
Adults with kidney disease are at higher risk of early death.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic Kidney Disease in the United States, 2023. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2023.
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/php/data-research/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/media/pdfs/CKD-Factsheet-H.pdf
[“Adults with kidney disease are at a higher risk of dying earlier than adults of similar age without CKD.”]
Prevalence of kidney disease: non-Hispanic Black adults 20%; Hispanic/Latino adults 14%; non-Hispanic Asian adults 14%; non-Hispanic White adults 12%.
Black/African American people have 4 times the incidence of kidney failure (ESKD) as White persons.
Hispanic/Latino and American Indian/Alaska Native people have 2 times the incidence of kidney failure as White persons. Asian people are 1.4 times more likely than Whites to experience kidney failure.
[References for three facts above.]
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic Kidney Disease in the United States, 2023. Atlanta, GA: US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2023.
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/media/pdfs/CKD-Factsheet-H.pdf
[“• Non-Hispanic Black persons have 4 times the incidence rate of ESKD than non-Hispanic White persons. • Hispanic persons have twice the incidence rate of ESKD than non-Hispanic White persons.”]
https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/php/data-research/index.html
Diabetes and American Indians/Alaska Natives. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; Office of Minority Health. Accessed: May 22, 2024.
https://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/diabetes-and-american-indiansalaska-natives
[data source CDC 2021]
Kidney Disease Statistics for the United States: Fast Facts on Kidney Disease. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Last reviewed May 2023. Accessed May 20, 2024.
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/kidney-disease
[data source CDC 2021]
United States Renal Data System. 2023 USRDS Annual Data Report: Epidemiology of kidney disease in the United States. National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD, 2023.
https://usrds-adr.niddk.nih.gov/2023/end-stage-renal-disease/1-incidence-prevalence-patient-characteristics-and-treatment-modalities
[End Stage Renal Disease: Chapter 1 Incidence, Prevalence, Patient Characteristics, and Treatment Modalities: Highlights: Bullet #4: “In 2021, the incidence of ESRD among Black individuals was 3.8 times that of White individuals; the incidence among Native American individuals was 2.3 times as high, and it was twice as high among Hispanic individuals (Figure 1.4). Although these disparities had been improving until 2018, they worsened from 2018 to 2021.”]
30% of all patients with kidney failure are Black/African American, even though this group is 13% of the U.S. population.
Kidney Disease Statistics for the United States: Fast Facts on Kidney Disease. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Last reviewed May 2023. Accessed May 20, 2024.
https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/kidney-disease
[Data source: CDC 2021]
Almost one-third of people on the kidney transplant waitlist are Black/African American. Black/African American transplant recipients are also less likely to receive a kidney from a living donor.
El-Khoury B, Yang TC. Reviewing racial disparities in living donor kidney transplantation: a socioecological approach. J Racial Ethn Health Disparities.2024 Apr;11(2):928-937. doi: 10.1007/s40615-023-01573-x. Epub 2023 Mar 29. PMID: 36991297; PMCID: PMC10057682.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10057682/
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40615-023-01573-x
Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR). OPTN/SRTR 2022 Annual Data Report. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration; 2024. Accessed May 20, 2024.
http://srtr.transplant.hrsa.gov/annual_reports/Default.aspx
https://srtr.transplant.hrsa.gov/annual_reports/2022_ADR_Preview.aspx
[“Disparities in access to LDKT [living donor kidney transplantation] persist. While 31.7% of adult waitlisted candidates on December 31, 2022, were Black (Table KI 1), Black patients made up only 12.8% of LDKT recipients versus 34.1% of DDKT recipients that year (Table KI 6). White patients made up 35.5% of the waiting list (Table KI 1), while 61.4% of LDKT recipients and 35.3% of DDKT recipients were White (Table KI 6).”]
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS); Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA); Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). Data & Calculators. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). Accessed June 21, 2024.
https://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/
[ OPTN Homepage > Tab: Data & calculators > View Data Reports > National Data > Step 1: Choose category: Waiting list; Count: Candidates; Step 2: Choose Organ: Kidney > Step 2: Choose report: Organ by Ethnicity; Change Report: Candidates; Column: Kidney; Rows: Black, Non-Hispanic/All Ethnicities. Results as of 6/21/2024: 26,556/89,414 ]
Approximately 1 in 4 Medicare dollars is spent on kidney patients—$156.7 billion and growing.
National Kidney Foundation Advocacy. “1 in 4 Medicare dollars are spent on…” March 7, 2024. Accessed May 21, 2024.
https://x.com/NKF_Advocacy/status/1765882641394675738
United States Renal Data System. 2023 USRDS Annual data report: Epidemiology of kidney disease in the United States. National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD, 2023.
https://usrds-adr.niddk.nih.gov/2023/chronic-kidney-disease/6-healthcare-expenditures-for-persons-with-ckd
[Chronic Kidney Disease: Chapter 6 Healthcare Expenditures for Persons with CKD; Highlights Bullet # 2: “Total Medicare FFS spending for all beneficiaries (both older and younger than age 66, in contrast to above) with CKD was $86.1B in 2021, representing 22.6% of total Medicare FFS expenditures (Tables 6.1 and 6.2).”]
https://usrds-adr.niddk.nih.gov/2023/end-stage-renal-disease/9-healthcare-expenditures-for-persons-with-esrd
[End Stage Renal Disease: Chapter 9 Healthcare Expenditures for Persons with ESRD; Highlights Bullet #1: “Total inflation-adjusted Medicare expenditures for patients with ESRD increased steadily from $48.1B in 2011 to $53.8B in 2019, fell for the first time in 2020 to $51.6B, and then increased again in 2021 to $52.3B (Figure 9.1). However, with the transition of many Medicare FFS beneficiaries to Medicare Advantage (MA) in 2021, spending for Medicare Advantage, increased from $12.5B to $18.3B, or by 46.4% in a single year.”]
Without increased investment in prevention, the total number of patients with kidney failure (ESKD) will likely exceed 1 million by 2030.
McCullough KP, Morgenstern H, Saran R, Herman WH, Robinson BM. Projecting ESRD incidence and prevalence in the United States through 2030. J Am Soc Nephrol. 2018 Dec;30(1):127–135. ASN.2018050531 doi: 10.1681/ASN.2018050531. Epub 2018 Dec 17. PMID: 30559143; PMCID: PMC6317596.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6317596/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329721173_Projecting_ESRD_Incidence_and_Prevalence_in_the_United_States_through_2030
[“Conclusions: The burden of ESRD will increase in the United States population through 2030 due to demographic, clinical, and lifestyle shifts in the population and improvements in RRT. Planning for ESRD resource allocation should allow for substantial continued growth in the population of patients with ESRD. Future interventions should be directed to preventing the progression of CKD to kidney failure.”]
Murray R, Zimmerman T, Agarwal A, Palevsky PM, Quaggin S, Rosas SE, Kramer H. Kidney-related research in the United States: a position statement from the National Kidney Foundation and the American Society of Nephrology. Am J Kidney Dis.2021 Aug;78(2):161-167.
doi: 10.1053/j.ajkd.2021.04.006. Epub 2021 May 11. PMID: 33984405; PMCID: PMC10718284.
https://www.ajkd.org/article/S0272-6386(21)00594-1/fulltext
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10718284/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33984405/
COVID-19 continues to endanger the health and lives of kidney patients. The CDC recently (2/2024) updated their guidelines to recommend that people 65 and older should get vaccine boosters.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC updates and simplifies respiratory virus recommendations (press release). March 1, 2024.
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2024/p0301-respiratory-virus.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html
Del Vecchio L, Balafa O, Dounousi E, Ekart R, Fernandez BF, Mark PB, Sarafidis P, Valdivielso JM, Ferro CJ, Mallamaci F. COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease in patients with chronic kidney disease. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2024 Jan 31;39(2):177-189. doi: 10.1093/ndt/gfad170.
PMID: 37771078; PMCID: PMC10828215.
https://academic.oup.com/ndt/article/39/2/177/7285814
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37771078/
Geetha, D., Kronbichler, A., Rutter, M. et al. Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the kidney community: lessons learned and future directions.
Nat Rev Nephrol. 18, 724–737 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41581-022-00618-4
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41581-022-00618-4
Hartmann-Boyce J. The disproportionate toll that COVID-19 took on people with diabetes continues today. The Conversation. June 6, 2024.
https://theconversation.com/the-disproportionate-toll-that-covid-19-took-on-people-with-diabetes-continues-today-227314
Whyte LE. U.S. tries to be clearer on who should get covid booster: the CDC says people 65 and older should get shots this spring, stronger language than the agency had used. Wall Street Journal. February. 28, 2024.
https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/cdc-advisers-try-to-be-clearer-on-who-should-get-covid-booster-a95d0450 [Quoted: “Should.”—Federal vaccine advisers’ guidance on spring Covid-19 boosters for people 65 and older, a stronger recommendation than the CDC’s current language saying older adults “may” get the shots. The agency has to sign off on the tougher guidance, but it usually follows the committee’s advice. Doing so would ensure most health plans cover the inoculations without an out-of-pocket charge. The virus leads to around 20,000 new hospital admissions and 2,000 deaths every week. People 75 years and older die at the highest rate.” —Wall Street Journal email newsletter. February 29, 2024.]
