The Latin American Dialysis and Renal Transplantation Registry: report 2019

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Latin America (LA) continues to represent a challenge due to the burden of disease it causes and the difficulty in accessing treatment. LA has a total population of 652 million people living in 20 countries that occupy an area of 19.2 million km². The Latin American Dialysis and Renal Transplantation Registry (LADRTR), founded in 1991, has collected data and reports on patients receiving kidney replacement therapy (KRT) since 1993. This article summarizes the registry data for 2019.

Participating countries complete an annual survey collecting aggregated data on incident and prevalent patients on KRT in all modalities. The different treatment modalities considered were hemodialysis (HD), peritoneal dialysis (PD) and living functioning kidney graft (LFG). National gross domestic product per capita (GDP, expressed in US dollars) and life expectancy at birth (LEB) corresponding to the year 2019 were collected from the World Bank Data Bank. Prevalence and incidence were compared with previous years and were also correlated with GDP and LEB.

On 31 December 2019 a total of 432 610 patients were in KRT in LA, corresponding to an overall unadjusted prevalence of 866 per million population (pmp). Regarding treatment modality, 66.7% of the prevalent patients were treated with HD and 9.3% with PD while 24% of the patients had an LFG. A total of 85 224 patients started KRT in LA, representing a total unadjusted incidence rate of 168 pmp. Diabetic nephropathy as a cause of CKD continues to be a relevant percentage (36%) and five countries reported CKD of nontraditional causes. The kidney transplant rate in the region was 22 pmp, varying from 1 to >60 pmp. The total prevalence of KRT correlated positively with GDP per capita (r ² = 0.6, P < 0.01) and LEB (r ² = 0.23, P < 0.05). The overall incidence rate also significantly correlated with GDP (r ² = 0.307, P < 0.05). The overall unadjusted mortality rate was 13%.

Accessibility to KRT is still limited in LA. It is necessary to continue the efforts made by each country and the Latin American Society of Nephrology and Hypertension to guarantee equal access to treatment.