Epidemiology, contributors to, and clinical trials of mortality risk in chronic kidney failure

Patients with chronic kidney failure—defined as a glomerular filtration rate persistently below 15 mL/min per 1·73 m2—have an unacceptably high mortality rate. In developing countries, mortality results primarily from an absence of access to renal replacement therapy. Additionally, cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortality are several times higher in patients on dialysis or post-renal transplantation than in the general population. Mortality of patients on renal replacement therapy is affected by a combination of socioeconomic factors, pre-existing medical disorders, renal replacement treatment modalities, and kidney failure itself. Characterisation of the key pathophysiological contributors to increased mortality and cardiorenal risk staging systems are needed for the rational design of clinical trials aimed at decreasing mortality. Policy changes to improve access to renal replacement therapy should be combined with research into low-cost renal replacement therapy and optimum clinical care, which should include multifaceted approaches simultaneously targeting several of the putative contributors to increased mortality.