Medindia LOGIN REGISTER
Medindia

Death from Kidney Failure on the Rise in Australia

by Gopalan on Apr 6 2009 4:34 PM

Death from kidney failure is on the rise in Australia, as per data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Dr Tim Mathew, Medical Director of Kidney Health Australia said, mortality data from 2007 shows that diseases of the kidney and urinary tract have jumped to 10th on the leading cause of death list with 3230 deaths being attributed as the single underlying cause.

"This number has increased 123 per cent in the last decade. Most of this increase appears to be due to an increase in chronic kidney failure deaths that have risen 148 per cent in the last decade (2046 deaths in 2007 c/w 1386 in 1998) with a striking 133 per cent rise over the last three years.

This is at a time when cardiovascular deaths have decreased 125 per cent in the last decade.

The rise in mortality has occurred in both sexes with female deaths accounting for 55 per cent of all deaths from diseases of the kidney and urinary tract. An age breakdown of these deaths is not yet available.

"When adjusted for the population and expressed as a mortality rate there was an increase of 150 per cent over the last decade - from 4.1 in 1998 to 6.25 in 2007 (deaths per 100,000 person years)

Dr Mathew said "Explanations for this significant increase in deaths from kidney failure include the ageing population (kidney failure increases with age), an increased awareness of kidney diseases due to better diagnosis and reporting practices and a real increase possibly related to the fall in cardiovascular mortality".

Advertisement
Source-Medindia
GPL/L


Advertisement