Incidence of renal replacement therapy in Veneto for 2008, 2009 and 2010

This section of the report of the Veneto Dialysis and Transplantation Registry (VDTR) provides data on the incidence of patients receiving renal replacement therapy (RRT) in the region from 2008 to 2010. Its purpose is to provide health authorities with the information they need to plan the delivery of RRT in Veneto. Data were obtained from the VDTR, defining incident patients according to the recommendations of the Italian Dialysis and Transplantation Registry. The incidence rate was calculated per million population (pmp). Variability by province and treatment center was studied by applying multilevel modeling methods. An age-period-cohort model was used to forecast the incidence rate of RRT over the years to come. The incidence of patients on RRT was 114.23 pmp in 2008, 120.15 pmp in 2009 and 107.08 pmp in 2010. The patients' median age at the time of starting RRT was 70.5 in 2008, 68.7 in 2009 and 69.5 in 2010. During these 3 years, 66.3% of patients were male, and 33.7% were female. Incidence rates were not uniformly distributed between the provinces in the region, but were significantly higher in 2. The incidence rate of patients needing RRT seems likely to remain stable in the future, until 2015 at least. Renal vascular disease was the primary cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD), followed closely by diabetes, while the proportion due to primary glomerulonephritis has gradually decreased. Initial dialysis modality was hemodialysis (HD) for 78% of patients, while about 20% started RRT on peritoneal dialysis (PD), and a negligible proportion had a preemptive kidney transplantation. About 35% patients began dialysis with a temporary vascular catheter; this percentage remained fairly constant until 2010. The incidence of RRT in Veneto is one of the lowest in Italy and remained substantially stable over the period 1998-2010, despite the population of patients with ESRD becoming older and more severely ill. This finding could mean a heavier burden on the welfare system in the future.