NEW ORLEANS — The overall U.S. incidence of end-stage renal disease among people with diabetes decreased steadily between 1997 and 2006.
Yet diabetes-related end-stage renal disease (ESRD-DM) continues to disproportionately affect non-Hispanic blacks and Hispanics, compared with non-Hispanic whites.
The findings were presented in a poster at the annual scientific sessions of the American Diabetes Association.
“The declining ESRD-DM incidence in the population with diabetes is likely due in part to a reduction in prevalence of ESRD risk factors, improved treatment and care, and other factors,” said Nilka Ríos Burrows, an epidemiologist with the Division of Diabetes Translation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, and her colleagues. “Continued efforts are needed to sustain and improve these encouraging trends, particularly among older and among minority populations.”
She and her associates analyzed data from the United States Renal Data System to examine racial- and ethnic-specific trends in the incidence of ESRD-DM among patients who began therapy for the disease between 1997 and 2006. They also studied data from the National Health Interview Survey and the Census 2000 to estimate the United States population with diabetes in calculating the incidence of ESRD-DM as well as the age-adjusted incidence.
The number of patients who began treatment for ESRD-DM increased nearly threefold, from 17,727 in 1997 to 48,215 in 2006. During the same period, the overall age-adjusted incidence of ESRD-DM decreased 28%.
The decline in the age-adjusted incidence between 1997 and 2006 was significant (37%) among non-Hispanic whites and among non-Hispanic blacks (18%). Among Hispanics, the decline in the age-adjusted incidence was 17%.
However, in 2006 alone, the incidence of ESRD-DM was 1.8 times higher among Hispanics and 2.3 times higher among non-Hispanic blacks, compared with non-Hispanic whites.
Study limitations include the fact that the data analyzed were for patients receiving treatment as reported to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and that changes in factors other than “true” disease incidence could affect trends, the researchers said, adding that they were unable to stratify risk of developing ESRD-DM by duration of diabetes.
Ms. Burrows had no conflicts of interest to disclose.