Registry analysis reveals high prevalence and progressive aging among dialysis patients in Japan, highlighting growing healthcare demands for elderly renal care.
Key Points
To evaluate national and international epidemiological trends, incidence, and age distributions of patients receiving maintenance dialysis in Japan.
Reviewed international comparative data from the 2014 United States Renal Data System (USRDS) annual report using 2012 records.
Analyzed Japanese national registry data from 2013 regarding patient age at dialysis initiation and overall age distribution.
Japan ranked second globally in dialysis prevalence with 2,365.2 patients per million and fourth in incidence with 285.3 new patients per million.
The mean age reached 67.2 years for existing dialysis patients and 68.7 years for incident patients in 2013.
Patients aged 65 and older accounted for 61.8% of all dialysis cases, with 30.3% aged 75 or older.