Current status of hemodialysis treatment in Beijing, China.

INTRODUCTION Since the Beijing Hemodialysis Quality Control and Improvement Center was established in 2002, some registration work on hemodialysis (HD) has been done. We report here the current status of HD in Beijing, the capital of China. METHODS Data collection forms were distributed to all HD centers in Beijing, and data from 2003 and 2004 were collected for analysis of incidence, prevalence, causes, and mortality of end-stage renal disease treated by HD. RESULTS Beijng has 122 HD centers. The point prevalence was 235.9 per million population at the end of 2003, and this number increased to 268.9 per million population by the end of 2004. The most common cause of ESRD was chronic glomerulonephritis, followed by diabetes and hypertension. The percentage of patients who met the target of Kidney Disease Outcome Quality Initiative guidelines for Kt/V, hemoglobin, and calcium-phosphate product were relatively low. CONCLUSIONS This report describes the current status of HD treatment in Beijing. The result shows that the prevalence and incidence of HD are increasing. Thus, for better prevention of ESRD, efforts should be made to clarify the reason for the increase. Also, the quality of health care provided needs to be improved for better quality of life for patients on HD.