Kidney disease

Kidney disease is a chronic condition in which a person's kidney function is reduced or damaged. The kidney’s main task is to clean blood and filter waste out through urine. When kidneys aren't functioning as they should, waste gradually builds up in a persons' body, and this can have a devastating impact on their health. This condition is called kidney disease – the loss of normal kidney function over time. It can also be called kidney failure, which is the end-stage of kidney disease[1]. Kidney disease is also often associated with other chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease[2].

Kidney disease prevalence has remained steady over the last decade, from 0.8% (181,900) of people in 2011–12 to 1.0% (264,200) in 2022. Males and females had similar rates of kidney disease (0.8% and 1.1%). Like other chronic conditions, prevalence of kidney disease increases with age. People aged 75 years and over were more likely than any other age group to have kidney disease (4.9%).

In 2022, people:

• Living with disability were more likely to have kidney disease than those with no disability (2.0% compared to 0.5%)
• Living in areas of most disadvantage were more likely to have kidney disease than those in areas of least disadvantage (1.6% compared to 0.6%).

One in two (50.0%) people aged 15 years and over with kidney disease rated their health as fair or poor, this was more than three times higher than those without kidney disease (14.6%).

See the National Health Survey 2022 data downloads for the full suite of available data. Data relating to Kidney disease can be found in tables:

• TABLE 1 Summary health characteristics, 2001 to 2022
• TABLE 2 Summary health characteristics, by states and territories
• TABLE 3 Long-term health conditions, by age and sex
• TABLE 4 Selected long-term health conditions, by population characteristics
• TABLE 5 Selected long-term health conditions, by health risk factors and health status
• TABLE 15 Number of chronic conditions, by population characteristics, by age
• TABLE 16 Comorbidity of selected chronic conditions, by age and sex.

1. Kidney Health Australia, 'What is kidney disease?', https://kidney.org.au/your-kidneys/what-is-kidney-disease; accessed 15/11/2023.
2. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, ‘Chronic kidney disease: Australian facts’, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/chronic-kidney-disease/chronic-kidney-disease/contents/risk-factors/cardiovascular-disease; accessed 15/11/2023.

See National Health Survey 2022 media release for more information.