Kidney Failure: Who Is at Risk?
Studies have shown repeatedly that African Americans are the most likely to need treatment for kidney failure, followed by Native Americans, then Asian/Pacific Islanders. Caucasians are the least likely to have end stage renal disease, with rates of disease four times lower than blacks.
The difference in rates of disease are attributed to several things, including higher rates of diabetes in some races, access to health care, willingness to control diseases such as high blood pressure, and the ability to afford essential medications.
Men are slightly more likely to have kidney failure than women -- approximately 55% of patients are male. The rate of disease is highest between the ages of 45 to 64, an age when diabetes and other diseases have had decades to damage the kidneys.
Sources:
Diseases That Lead to Transplant. Transplant Living. 2008. http://www.transplantliving.org/beforethetransplant/diseases/default.aspx
Statistics, United States Renal Data System. 2007. http://www.usrds.org/2007/ref/A_incidence_07.pdf
