Brazilian chronic dialysis survey 2017.

Introduction: Having national data on chronic dialysis is essential in treatment planning.

Objective: To present data of the survey from the Brazilian Society of Nephrology on patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis in July 2017.

Methods: Data was collected from dialysis units in Brazil. The data collection was done using a questionnaire completed online by the dialysis units.

Results: Two hundred and ninety-one centers (38.4%) answered the questionnaire. In July 2017, the estimated total number of dialysis patients was 126,583. National estimates of prevalence and incidence rates of dialysis patients per million population (pmp) were 610 (range: 473 in the North region and 710 in the Midwest) and 194, respectively. The incidence rate of new dialysis patients with diagnosis of diabetic nephropathy was 77 pmp. The annual gross mortality rate was 19.9%. Of the prevalent patients, 93.1% were on hemodialysis and 6.9% on peritoneal dialysis, with 31,226 (24%) on the waiting list for renal transplantation. Venous catheter was used as access in 22.6% of patients on hemodialysis. The prevalence rate of positive serology for hepatitis C continued with a tendency to decrease (3.3%).

Conclusion: The absolute number of patients and rates of incidence and prevalence on dialysis continued to increase; the mortality rate tended to rise. There were obvious regional and state discrepancies in these rates.