The European Renal Association – European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) Registry Annual Report 2015: A summary

Background: This article summarises the European Renal Association–European Dialysis and Transplant Association (ERA-EDTA) Registry’s 2015 Annual Report. It describes the epidemiology of renal replacement therapy (RRT) for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in 2015 within 36 countries.

Methods: In 2016 and 2017, the ERA-EDTA Registry received data on patients who were undergoing RRT for ESRD in 2015, from 52 national or regional renal registries. Thirty-two registries provided individual patient level data and 20 provided aggregated level data. The incidence, prevalence and survival probabilities of these patients were determined.

Results: In 2015, 81,373 individuals commenced RRT for ESRD, equating to an overall unadjusted incidence rate of 119 per million population (pmp). The incidence ranged by ten-fold, from 24 pmp in Ukraine to 232 pmp in Czech Republic. Of the patients commencing RRT, almost two-thirds were men, over half were aged ≥65 years and a quarter had diabetes mellitus as their primary renal diagnosis. Treatment modality at the start of RRT was haemodialysis for 85% of the patients, peritoneal dialysis for 11%, and a kidney transplant for 4%. By day 91 of commencing RRT 82% of patients were receiving haemodialysis, 13% peritoneal dialysis and 5% had a kidney transplant. On the 31st December 2015, 546,783 individuals were receiving RRT for ESRD, corresponding to an unadjusted prevalence of 801 pmp. This ranged throughout Europe by more than ten-fold; from 178 pmp in Ukraine to 1824 pmp in Portugal. In 2015, 21,056 kidney transplantations were performed, equating to an overall unadjusted transplant rate of 31 pmp. This varied from 2 pmp in Ukraine to 94 pmp in the Spanish region of Cantabria. For patients commencing RRT during 2006 to 2010, the 5-year unadjusted patient survival probabilities on all RRT modalities combined was 50.0% (95%CI: 49.9-50.1).