1997 Spanish Nephrology Association (Sociedad Española de Nefrologia) Report on Dialysis and Transplantation

Traditionally, the Sociedad Española de Nefrologia Report on Dialysis and Transplantation has been drawn up on the basis of the data directly submitted by the Spanish dialysis and transplantation centres to the ERA–EDTA Registry. The response rate of these centres to the ERA–EDTA Registry has been falling every year (61% in 1996) [1]. Consequently, the reliability of the data has become a concern for the SEN Registry Committee. To overcome this problem, the SEN Registry Committee has modified the procedure to obtain the data, making use of the disinterested collaboration of Spanish Regional and Paediatric Registries, which achieve higher rates of response in their own areas (frequently near 100%). This report has three parts. First, it presents the currently most accurate estimate of the incidence and prevalence of renal replacement therapy (RRT) in Spain in 1997. Also shown are the modalities of RRT used and the annual mortality for that year. Second, it presents the 1997 RRT data of paediatric patients. Third, it pools the data of five Spanish regional registries with a 100% centre response rate to study the trends of RRT in Spain during the interval 1990–1996, both years included.