Australian Maintenance Dialysis Survey

A survey over 28 months from July, 1971, to October, 1973, by a Committee of the Australian Kidney Foundation has collected data from 21 Australian dialysis centres. Thirty-two patients per million population were being dialysed at the end of the last six-month survey period; the latest annual intake of new patients was 27·6 per million population. Home dialysis patients represented 29·5% of the dialysis population. Analgesic nephropathy was the primary cause of renal failure in 15% of cases with a persistent variation in incidence between States. Most patients in whom renal transplant function failed were now being reestablished on dialysis. In December, 1972, 70 patients per million population were alive on dialysis or with a functioning renal transplant. The current integrated dialysis and transplantation programme is essential for adequate provision of therapy for patients with renal failure.