Renal replacement therapy in Slovenia: 2003 annual report

The total number of end-stage renal disease patients treated by renal replacement therapy increased from 1584 on 31 December 2002 to 1661 on 31 December 2003 (4.9% increase). Of these patients, 70.5% were treated by hemodialysis, 7.0% by peritoneal dialysis and 22.5% had a functioning renal graft. The patients were treated at 18 dialysis centers and one transplant center. The number of prevalent patients treated by renal replacement therapy per million of the population (p.m.p.) was 846 at the end of 2003. The number of incident (new) patients in 2003 was 131 p.m.p. The gross mortality rate of dialysis patients was stable through the years of the study and reached 11.8% in 2003. 57.6% of new patients starting hemodialysis were > or = 65 years old and 23.2% were diabetics. Epoetin therapy was prescribed to 89.8% of dialysis patients. The number of patients positive for hepatitis B or hepatitis C viruses is stable and low (3.1% of all dialysis patients).