Untreated Kidney Failure Is More Common in Older Than in Younger Adults

Older patients are less likely than younger patients to receive dialysis, but whether elders are less likely to progress to kidney failure is unclear. In this retrospective cohort study from Alberta, Canada, researchers used linked registries to identify about 1.8 million patients with estimated glomerular filtration rates (eGFRs) of ≥15 mL/minute/1.73 m² who were not receiving treatment for kidney disease. During a median follow-up of 4.4 years, about 97,000 (5.4%) died, 3295 (0.2%) developed treated kidney failure (defined as kidney transplant or dialysis initiation), and 3116 (0.2%) progressed to untreated kidney failure (eGFR <15 mL/minute/1.73 m²).

For each stratum of initial eGFR, the rate of progression to treated kidney failure was s…