Epidemiology of Chronic Renal Failure in Children: Data From the ItalKid Project

This study provides important and recent epidemiologic information concerning CRF in children and adolescents: a mean annual incidence of 12.1 new patients per million of the age-related population with a very high proportion (57.6%) of hypodysplastic renal diseases with or without urinary tract malformation. By the age of 20 years, the cumulative probability of end-stage renal disease in the population as a whole was 68%. The probability of kidney survival sharply declined during puberty and early postpuberty. This is the first prospective evaluation of the incidence and outcome of CRF in children, including those with mild and moderate renal impairment.