SPH Study: Chronic Kidney Disease Now Common in the United States

There is a high prevalence of chronic kidney disease in the United States, which has risen over the past decade, according to a study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The study found that the overall prevalence of chronic kidney disease increased from 10 percent of the population during a period from 1988 to 1994 to 13 percent from 1999 to 2004. The researchers conclude that the increase is partly due to the rise in the number of Americans with diabetes and hypertension and the aging of the population. The study is published in a recent edition of JAMA.
Chronic kidney disease increases the risk for complications from medications cleared by the kidney, hypertension, anemia, bone disease, death from cardiovascular disease and ultimately kidney failure, which requires treatment with kidney transplantation or dialysis.

read the full article >> http://www.jhu.edu/~gazette/2007/10dec07/10chronic.html