Health Indicators for Renal Replacement Therapy in Saudi Arabia

The renal replacement therapy in Saudi Arabia has 3 main modalities: hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and renal transplantation. Hemodialysis is one of the fastest growing industries of health care providers in Saudi Arabia.

We aimed to review the health indicators of renal replacement therapy.

We used the Saudi Center for Organ Transplantation Annual Report 2016.

Patients with end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis totaled 17,687. Saudi Arabia increased the numbers of dialysis centers and also added 2 more sectors. The Ministry of Health hospitals have 55% of the centers, government non-Ministry of Health has 9%, private and charitable hospitals have 21%, the King Abdullah Hemodialysis Project has 2%, and the outsourcing dialysis programs have 13%. There are 243 dialysis units in Saudi Arabia. Most dialysis centers are in the central region (30%); 27% are in the western region, 19% are in the southern region, 13% are in the eastern region, and 11% are in the northern region. The average net increase of dialysis patients is 6.2% annually and is projected to reach 22,000 by 2020. Causes of renal failure are mainly diabetic nephropathy (40%) and hypertensive nephropathy (38%). Hepatitis C virus positivity is at 12% and hepatitis B surface antigen positivity is at 4%. From the year 2000 renal transplantation from deceased and living donation has tripled in number, with a total of 798 kidneys transplanted.

Renal replacement therapy is increasing and dialysis center numbers are expected to increase. Renal transplantation numbers have improved both from living and deceased donors but further actions toward the promotion of the organ donation in Saudi Arabia is essential.