Kidney Disease Research Updates
Spring 2010
NIDDK Announces Availability of More Current Kidney Disease Data
Incidence and prevalence data for end-stage kidney disease in the United States are now available online from the U.S. Renal Data System (USRDS) a year earlier than usual, announced the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). In addition, the data tables will be updated online every 3 months and will show quarterly counts of patients.
"These tables provide preliminary estimates, which may change minimally as additional updates become available," said Paul W. Eggers, Ph.D., director of the NIDDK's Kidney and Urology Epidemiology Program. "However, these frequent updates will allow researchers to see and investigate trends sooner than previously possible."
The first of the new tables showed incidence and prevalence counts through December 2008. As the tables are updated quarterly, an additional 3 months of counts will be added. The next update, in December 2009, included patient counts through March 2009.
Previously, incidence and prevalence data were available only through yearly updates of the USRDS annual data report. Because the report includes detailed data from multiple sources, reporting lagged by about 18 months while data were merged and verified. For example, the 2009 report, which became available in October 2009, had complete data only through 2007.
Data from the USRDS are used by researchers, government officials, health program planners, and others to develop research goals, assess public health needs, set program priorities, and inform policymakers and the public.
The USRDS reports that more than half a million people in the United States have end-stage kidney disease, requiring frequent dialysis treatments or a kidney transplant. People with the disease account for just 1.2 percent of the Medicare population, but they accounted for 7.3 percent of Medicare costs in 2007. The total cost for the disease was $35.32 billion, including coverage by Medicare and other payers, such as employer group health plans.
The USRDS, funded by the NIDDK, collaborates with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, End-stage Renal Disease Networks, and the United Network for Organ Sharing in sharing data sets and improving the accuracy of information.
The USRDS end-stage renal disease incident and prevalent counts quarterly update is available at www.usrds.org/qtr/default.aspx 
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The National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse, an information service of the NIDDK, has easy-to-read booklets and fact sheets about kidney disease. For more information, visit www.kidney.niddk.nih.gov.
NIH Publication No. 10-4531
April 2010
Page last updated January 1, 2012
