2017 Volume 50 Issue 1 Pages 1-62
A nationwide survey for 4,380 dialysis facilities was conducted at the end of 2015, among which 4,321 facilities (98.7％) responded. The response rate of the 2015 survey was comparable with the past, even though it was the first year after the new anonymization method. The number of chronic dialysis patients in Japan continues to increase every year; it has reached 324,986 at the end of 2015. The mean age was 67.86 years. At the end of 2015, the prevalence rate was 2,592 patients per million population. Diabetic nephropathy was the most common primary disease among the prevalent dialysis patients (38.4％), followed by chronic glomerulonephritis (29.8％) and nephrosclerosis (9.5％). The rate of diabetic nephropathy and nephrosclerosis has been increasing year by year, whereas that of chronic glomerulonephritis was declining. The number of incident dialysis patients during 2015 was 39,462; it has remained stable since 2008. The average age was 69.20 years and diabetic nephropathy (43.7％) was the most common cause in the incident dialysis patients. These patients caused by diabetes did not change in number for the last several years. Meanwhile, 31,608 patients died in 2015; the crude mortality rate was 9.6％. The patients treated by hemodiafiltration (HDF) have been increasing rapidly from the revision of medical reimbursement for HDF therapy in 2012. It has attained 53,776 patients at the end of 2015, which were 10,493 greater than that in 2014. In particular, the number of on-line HDF patients increased about ten-times 2012. The number of peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients was 9,322 in 2015, which was slightly more than 2014. 20.0％ of PD patients shared hemodialysis (HD) or HDF therapy. 572 patients underwent home HD patients at the end of 2015; it increased by 43 from 2014.
