Over 26,000 Patients Aged 70+ with 'End-Stage Renal Disease'... More Than Double Increase in 10 Years

Last Year Total New Patients 11,400 ... 120% Increase Compared to 2012

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The number of patients diagnosed with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) last year has more than doubled compared to 10 years ago. While the number of patients aged 50 and under among all ESRD patients slightly decreased, the number of patients aged 70 and over more than doubled.

According to the National Health Insurance Service's health insurance medical data on the 9th, the number of ESRD patients in South Korea increased by 52.1% (26,125 people) over 10 years, from 50,156 in 2012 to 76,281 in 2021, with an average annual increase of 4.8%.

End-stage renal disease refers to chronic kidney disease in which kidney function is less than 10% and cannot function independently. It is mainly caused by diabetes, hypertension, glomerulonephritis, and polycystic kidney disease. Due to population aging, cases of elderly people with chronic kidney disease progressing to ESRD are also rapidly increasing. Once diagnosed with ESRD, patients cannot excrete water and uremic toxins on their own, requiring dialysis or kidney transplantation to remove waste.

Among ESRD patients last year, those aged 70 and over accounted for the largest proportion at 35.1% (26,759 people), followed by those in their 60s at 29.1% (22,229 people), 50s at 21.4% (16,343 people), and under 50 at 14.4% (10,950 people). Compared to 2012, the number of patients under 50 decreased by 6.1%, but those in their 50s increased by 21.0%, 60s by 75.1%, and 70 and over by 117.7%.

By type of dialysis, the number of hemodialysis patients increased by an average of 5.7% annually, while peritoneal dialysis patients decreased by an average of 3.9% annually.

The number of newly diagnosed ESRD patients last year was 11,480, an increase of 120.3% (6,268 people) compared to 5,212 new patients in 2012. New patients under 65 increased by 73.5% (2,259 people) from 3,074 in 2012 to 5,333 in 2021, and new patients aged 65 and over increased by 187.5% (4,009 people) from 2,138 to 6,147 during the same period.

Among newly diagnosed ESRD patients, 36.5% had hypertension as an underlying disease, and 46.9% had diabetes as an underlying disease.

Total health insurance medical expenses for ESRD patients increased by 80.1% (962.8 billion KRW) over 10 years, from 1.2019 trillion KRW in 2012 to 2.1647 trillion KRW in 2021, with an average annual increase of 6.8%. By medical institution, outpatient clinics accounted for the largest share of medical expenses at 45.0% (975 billion KRW), followed by general hospitals at 30.3% (655.3 billion KRW), hospitals at 12.7% (275.7 billion KRW), and tertiary hospitals at 12.0% (258.7 billion KRW).

Patients with chronic renal failure are subject to special copayment reduction for severe and intractable diseases, paying only 10% of medical or procedure-related outpatient and inpatient expenses, but the economic burden is considerable as the disease is difficult to cure and requires lifelong management.

Professor Hong Yu-a of Daejeon St. Mary's Hospital, Catholic University of Korea, advised, "Since kidney damage is irreversible once it occurs, medication and dietary therapy should be used to delay the deterioration of kidney function as much as possible. Especially, ESRD has no specific symptoms, making early detection difficult, and underlying diseases such as hypertension and diabetes have a significant impact, so special attention and management are required for the elderly population aged 65 and over."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.