UK Renal Registry 13th Annual Report (December 2010): Chapter 6: survival and causes of death of UK adult patients on renal replacement therapy in 2009: national and centre-specific analyses.

INTRODUCTION: These analyses examine (a) survival from the start of renal replacement therapy (RRT), based on the total incident UK RRT population reported to the UK Renal Registry, including the 18% who started on PD and the 6% who received a pre-emptive transplant and (b) survival of prevalent patients. Changes in survival between 1997 and 2008 are also reported.

METHODS: Survival was calculated for both incident and prevalent patients on RRT and compared between the UK countries after adjustment for age. Survival of incident patients (starting RRT during 2008) was calculated both from the start of RRT and amongst the cohort who survived at least 90 days after RRT, both with and without censoring at transplantation. Both Kaplan-Meier and Cox adjusted models were used to calculate survival. Causes of death were analysed for both groups. Relative risk of death was calculated compared with the general UK population.

RESULTS: The 2008 unadjusted 1 year after 90 day survival for patients starting RRT was 87.3%. In incident patients aged 18-64, the unadjusted 1 year survival had risen from 85.9% in 1997 to 91.9% in 2008 and for those aged ≥ 65 it had risen from 64.2% to 75.8%. The age-adjusted one year survival (adjusted to age 60) of prevalent dialysis patients rose from 85% in 2000 to 89% in 2009. Diabetic prevalent patient one year survival rose from 76.6% in 2000 to 83.6% in 2009. The age-standardised mortality ratio for prevalent RRT patients compared with the general population was 19 at age 30 years and 2.4 at age 85 years. In the prevalent RRT dialysis population, cardiovascular disease accounted for 24% of deaths, infection 19% and treatment withdrawal 14%; 22% were recorded as uncertain. Treatment withdrawal was a more frequent cause of death in patients aged ≥ 65 at start of RRT than in younger patients. The median life years remaining for a 25-29 year old on RRT was 20 years and 4 years for a 75+ year old.

CONCLUSIONS: Survival of patients starting RRT, has improved in the 2008 incident cohort. The relative risk of death on RRT compared with the general population has fallen since 2001. Death rates on dialysis in the UK remained lower than when compared with a similar aged population on dialysis in the USA.