FROM THE LANCET

A global measure of chronic kidney disease dropped by 3.9% from 2005 to 2015, but CKD remains a top-10 burden in 63 countries, according to the Global Burden of Disease 2015 study.

The age-standardized rate of years of life lost (YLL) for CKD dropped by 3.9%, even though its global YLL rank rose from 21st to 17th and total CKD mortality was up by almost 32%, the Global Burden of Disease 2015 Mortality and Causes of Death Collaborators reported (Lancet. 2016 Oct 8;388[10053]:1459-544). The increase in the number of deaths comes largely “because of improved estimates within countries with large populations such as China, India, and Russia,” the collaborators pointed out.

The 63 countries with CKD among their 10 leading causes of YLL for 2015 included Mexico, Colombia, the Philippines, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Also among the 63 countries noted by the investigators were the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, Marshall Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands, which were included separately from the United States, which was not among the 63.

“In 2015, Latin America had the highest chronic kidney disease death rates in the world. Within Mexico, the country with the highest chronic kidney disease death rate, more than half of patients with incident end-stage renal disease have an underlying diagnosis of diabetes mellitus,” the investigators wrote.

The study is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

rfranki@frontlinemedcom.com

Ads