Chronic renal failure in India

In a series of 2028 patients with chronic renal failure, thediseases leading to renal failure, the presence or absence ofreversible factors and their nature, and the rate of declineof renal function of the most common conditions have been describedand analysed. Seven diseases: chronic interstitial nephritis(27.85%), diabetic nephropathy (26.76%), chronic glomerulonephritis(18.20%), benign nephrosclerosis (10.06%), chronic pyelonephritis(7.29%), focal glom erulosclerosis (3.20%), and autosomal dominantpoly cystic disease of the kidneys (2.07%), accounted for 95.43%of all the patients. These diseases were studied in greaterdetail and the results are presented here. It was found thatthere was a great variation in the rate of decline of renalfunction in the different groups, with chronic glomerulonephritisand focal glomerular sclerosis progressing most rapidly, diabeticnephro pathy slightly slower, and the others at a less alarmingpace. However, once serum creatinine had reached 177 µmol/lthere was an inexorable decline in renal function and the endstage was reached in almost all patients.