The 20th annual report of the U.S. Renal Data System found end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients are surviving longer and fewer deaths are occurring in their first year of dialysis than in the past. 
 
First year mortality rates have fallen by almost 30 percent in peritoneal dialysis patients, 5 percent in the hemodialysis population and 16 percent for transplant recipients since 1998. Evidence suggests better treatment of cardiovascular disease and fewer serious infections account in large part for the positive outcomes. However, the number of new patients requiring dialysis or kidney transplants grew more than 3 percent in 2006, with numbers exceeding 110,000.
 
Progress also needs to be seen for pediatric ESRD patients. The likelihood of survival declined slightly between the 1990s and the first half of this decade.

This article originally appeared in the December 2008 issue of Renal Flash.