Kidney Health Australia, in welcoming the release of this first report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) on the cost of Chronic Kidney Disease said it is no surprise that spending surged by more than 30% in the four years to 2004-5 and believes it will continue to escalate until a national coordinated approach to detection,  treatment and management is introduced.
 
Anne Wilson, CEO of Kidney Health Australia said Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in Australia is a major public health threat which needed a significant public health response to cope with the combination of the size of the problem and Australia's ageing population.   
 
1 in 7 Australian adults over the age of 25 years has chronic kidney disease (stage 1-5).
*        At the end of 2007, 9,642 people were receiving dialysis treatment and 7,128 people were living with a functioning kidney transplant.

Dialysis for CKD is the most frequent reason for hospitalisation.
*        In 2006-07, regular dialysis for CKD was recorded as the principal diagnosis in 933,772 hospitalisations-12.3% of all hospitalisation in that year.

Risk factors for CKD are common in Australia.
*        People with CKD in the AusDiab survey had an increased prevalence of diabetes (14%), high blood pressure (39%), cardiovascular disease (10%), smoking (18%) and obesity (26%) compared to people without CKD.
 
Dr Tim Mathew, Medical Director of Kidney Health Australia stated that:
*       as acknowledged in the report it is not possible to compare CKD expenditure data detailed in this report with other diseases reported by AIHW as CKD was not considered a specific entity in 2004-5 and was not considered in the burden of disease expenditure database at that time.  This means that the reported estimates are likely a significant under estimate of the true cost of CKD.
*       This report uses 5 year old data and since that time there has been a further estimated 20% in the numbers on dialysis
*       the costs reported here are only direct identifiable costs to the health care system and do not include other costs including those borne by patients
 
For all these reasons it is certain that the current costs of delivering care to CKD patients is significantly  higher than detailed in this report.
 
The CKD economic crisis facing government is relentless with dialysis growing at 6% and the current dialysis budget blowing out at $1 million a week with the potential to have a severe impact on the overall health budget.
 
How much does Kidney Failure cost the Australian health system?
The best available evidence we have on cost per person per year on dialysis is:
*  hospital Haemodialysis - $82,764