Kidney disease is a chronic disease in which a person's kidney function is reduced or damaged. This affects the kidney's ability to filter blood and therefore control the body's water and other hormone levels, leading to increased fluid and waste within the body. The increase in these fluids can cause high blood pressure, anaemia and uremia. Kidney disease is also often associated with other chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. If kidney disease is detected early enough, the progress of the disease can be slowed and sometimes prevented[1]. In 2017, there were 20,851 deaths where kidney diseases were certified as being a contributory factor to mortality, accounting for 13.0% of all deaths[2].
Kidney disease
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Contains key statistics and information about kidney disease prevalence in Australia
Reference period
2017-18 financial year
Released
12/12/2018
Key statistics
- 237,800 Australians had kidney disease.
- Males and females had similar rates of kidney disease (both 1%), with the prevalence increasing with age.
- 20,851 deaths had kidney disease as being a contributory factor.
Who had kidney disease in 2017-18?
In 2017-18, 1.0% of Australians (237,800 people) had kidney disease. The prevalence of kidney disease has remained relatively stable since 2011-12 (0.8% of the population or 181,900 people).
Males and females had similar rates of kidney disease (both 1.0%), with the prevalence increasing with age. In 2017-18, the proportion of people with kidney disease was less than 1% up to age 54, then increases to 2.4% for people aged 65-74 years and 4.6% of people aged 75 years and over.
2011-12 biomedical information
In 2011-12, biomedical information was collected for the first time by ABS, including tests measuring aspects of kidney function. Results were used to determine indicators of chronic kidney disease and its Stages. Around 1.7 million people (10.0%) aged 18 years and over had indicators of chronic kidney disease based on these tests.
Of these people, only 6.1% had reported having kidney disease. This suggests that a large proportion of people with indicators of chronic kidney disease were unaware that they had the condition. However, it is possible that not all those people whose tests provided an indication of chronic kidney disease had the condition, as tests at a single point in time cannot provide a diagnosis for kidney disease and could indicate the presence of an acute kidney condition or infection instead. Kidney disease can only be confirmed if indicators are persistent for at least three months[4].
For more information see Australian Health Survey: Biomedical Results for Chronic Diseases, 2011-12 (cat. no. 4364.0.55.005).
Data downloads
Table 1: Summary health characteristics, 2001 to 2017–18 - Australia
Data files
Table 2: Summary health characteristics, 2017–18 - states and territories
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Table 3: Long-term health conditions - Australia
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Table 4: Long-term health conditions by population characteristics - Australia
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Table 5: Selected current long-term conditions by health risk factors and health status - Australia
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Table 19: Comorbidity of selected chronic conditions - Australia
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Table 20: New South Wales
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Table 21: Victoria
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Table 22: Queensland
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Table 23: South Australia
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Table 24: Western Australia
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Table 25: Tasmania
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Table 26: Northern Territory
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Table 27: Australian Capital Territory
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All data cubes
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Endnotes
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Previous catalogue number
This release previously used catalogue number 4364.0.55.001.