Kidney Disease Statistics for the United States

Fast Facts on Kidney Disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects more than 1 in 7 U.S. adults—an estimated 37 million Americans.¹ For Americans with diabetes or high blood pressure—the two most common causes of kidney disease—the risk for CKD is even greater. Nearly 1 in 3 people with diabetes and 1 in 5 people with high blood pressure have kidney disease.¹ Other risk factors for developing kidney disease include heart disease and a family history of kidney failure.

Despite the prevalence of kidney disease in the United States, as many as 9 in 10 people who have CKD are not aware they have the disease.¹ Early-stage kidney disease usually has no symptoms, and many people don’t know they have CKD until it is very advanced. Kidney disease often gets worse over time and may lead to kidney failure and other health problems, such as stroke or heart attack. Approximately 2 in 1,000 Americans are living with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD)—kidney failure that is treated with a kidney transplant or dialysis.²

Learn more about kidney disease from the National Institute on Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). The NIDDK spearheads research to improve kidney disease management and treatment. For information about current studies, visit ClinicalTrials.gov.

Key Kidney Disease Statistics

Chronic kidney disease (CKD)

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Chronic Kidney Disease in the United States, 2021 (PDF, 412 KB) report

• CKD is slightly more common in women (14%) than men (12%).
• CKD is more common in non-Hispanic Black adults (16%) than non-Hispanic white adults (13%) or non-Hispanic Asian adults (13%).
• About 14% of Hispanic adults have CKD.
• CKD is most common among people ages 65 or older (38%), followed by people ages 45 to 64 (12%) and people ages 18 to 44 (6%).

End-stage kidney disease (ESKD)

According to the United States Renal Data System 2020 Annual Data Report

• Nearly 786,000 people in the United States are living with ESKD, also known as end-stage renal disease (ESRD), with 71% on dialysis and 29% with a kidney transplant.  
• For every 2 women who develop ESKD, 3 men develop ESKD.
• For every white person who develops ESKD, 3 Black people develop ESKD.
• For every 3 non-Hispanic people who develop ESKD, 4 Hispanic people develop ESKD.
• At the end of 2018, 12.5% of all patients undergoing dialysis performed dialysis at home. The number of patients performing home dialysis more than doubled between 2008 and 2018.
• Among patients with ESKD who were initially waitlisted in 2013, median wait time for a kidney transplant was 49.2 months.
  • Median wait time is longer for adults (46.0 months to 59.1 months, depending on age bracket) than for children 17 years or younger (7.3 months).
  • Median wait time is longer for Black patients (59.9 months) than for white patients (41.3 months).
  • Median wait time is longer for Hispanic or Latino patients (55.8 months) than for non-Hispanic patients (47.4 months).

Based on U.S. Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network data

• In 2020, a total of 22,817 kidney transplants were completed in the United States.
• As of August 2021, 90,201 people were on the waiting list for a kidney transplant.

Medicare spending

According to the United States Renal Data System 2020 Annual Data Report

• Medicare spending for beneficiaries with CKD (not including ESKD) ages 66 or older exceeded $70 billion in 2018, representing 23.8% of Medicare spending in this age group.
• Annual per-person spending was more than double for patients ages 66 or older with CKD ($23,691) compared with those without CKD ($10,842).
• Medicare-related spending for beneficiaries with ESKD totaled $49.2 billion in 2018.

Mortality

According to the United States Renal Data System 2020 Annual Data Report

• In 2018, adjusted mortality was more than twice as high among Medicare beneficiaries ages 66 years or older with CKD (96.0 per 1,000) compared with those without CKD (41.0 per 1,000).
• Adjusted mortality decreased by nearly 15% in patients receiving hemodialysis and by nearly 20% in patients receiving peritoneal dialysis between 2009 and 2018.
• Adjusted mortality is significantly lower in patients with a kidney transplant (48.9 per 1,000) compared with patients receiving dialysis (160.8 per 1,000).

References