| [ Summary ] |
We did a nation wide survey on patients under 15 years of age with pediatric chronic end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in Japan in the six years between 1998 and 2003. The number of patients newly introduced to renal replacement therapy was approximately 60 per year and the incidence rate over the six year period was 126 (36.3 %) at age 0 - 4 years, 61 (17.6 %) at age 5 - 9 years and 160 (46.1 %) at age 10 - 14 years. The annual incidence rate per million population was lowest in the 5 - 9 year group. Male patients had a higher incidence rate than females. The major diseases causing ESRD were renal hypoplasia / dysplasia and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, with an increase in renal hypoplasia / dysplasia and a decrease in focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. Three patients died of uremia, 21 patients received preemptive renal transplants. Of the remaining 323 patients, 292 (90.4 %) received peritoneal dialysis and 31 (9.6 %) underwent hemodialysis. The renal transplant rate with the Kaplan-Meier method was 10.2 % one year after the replacement therapy for ERSD was initiated, and 48.6 % after five years. Living transplant patients accounted for 94 % of all transplants. The survival rates with the Kaplan-Meier method were 95.8 % one year after initiation of ERSD replacement therapy, and 87.7 % after five years. The major causes of death were cardiovascular diseases and infections. |