Newly released national data shows Manitoba once again leads the country in rates of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD).

The December 2019 Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) Canadian Organ Replacement Register (CORR) report outlines the state of organ transplants and kidney failure in Canada.

According to the report, Manitoba had the highest rate per million population (RPMP) for ESKD in 2018. The average RPMP for ESKD in Canada is 1,405.3 while Manitoba’s rate is 26 per cent higher at 1,773.5. 

The CORR report indicates the number of Canadians living with ESKD (including those on dialysis or with a functioning transplant) has increased by 35 percent since 2009.

When looking at dialysis alone, the number of Canadians on dialysis has grown by 30 percent since between 2009 and 2018. In that same period of time, the number of people on dialysis in Manitoba grew by 51 per cent. Looking at that number over ten years, from 2009 to 2019, the number of Manitobans on dialysis grew by 57 per cent.

Today more than 1,700 Manitobans complete about 320,000 dialysis treatments annually both at home and in dialysis units.

LEADING CAUSE

The 2018 CORR report shows diabetes continuing to be the leading cause of ESKD in Canada. Nationally, about 30 per cent of all patients’ ESKD was caused by diabetes while in Manitoba that rate is 43 per cent. About 44 per cent of Manitoba patients living with ESKD are between the ages of 45 and 64. An additional 37 per cent of Manitoba patients are aged 65 and over.

LATE REFERRALS

Manitoba had the third lowest rate of patients with late referral status. Late referrals are patients who start dialysis within 90 days of seeing a kidney doctor.

HOME DIALYSIS

Manitoba is one of two provinces leading the country in the use of home hemodialysis at a rate of 3.8 per cent, while the Canadian average is 2.6 per cent. About 11.5 per cent of Manitoba patients use peritoneal dialysis which is on par with the national average of 11.8 per cent of all patients with ESKD (including patients with a functioning transplant).

ORGAN DONATION

Among Manitoba patients there were 54 adult kidney transplants completed.  Of those 54, 30 Manitoba patients received a deceased donor kidney and had spent a median time of 2,269 days – or just over six years – on dialysis before getting their transplant.

The 2019 report features data from 2008 to 2018 but excludes Quebec data due to under reporting in 2012 and 2018.

Canadian Organ Replacement Register, 2019, Canadian Institute for Health Information.