Estimating the Need for Facilities for Renal Dialysis

I NFORMATION concerning the annual incidence of end-stage uremia in patients who are suitable for renal dialysis is a basic requirement for planning facilities for such t,reatment. A recent report by the Committee on Chronic Kidney Disease (la) contains the statement that patients with chronic uremia die within a relatively short time, and therefore data from death certificates may be the only usable source of such information. The purpose of this study was to estimate the number of patients in the United States who could benefit from long term dialysis by using mortality data from the Inter-American Investigation of Mortality (2a). The collaborative study sponsored by the Pan American Health Organization entailed collecting detailed information for 1962-64 from several large cities in North and South America and in England which would serve primarily as a basis for international comparisons of causes of death.