Final Public Report EDITH (The Effect of Differing Kidney Disease Treatment Modalities and Organ Donation and Transplantation Practices on Health Expenditure and Patient Outcomes)
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is the cause of substantial morbidity and mortality and results in major burden to both, individual patients and society as a whole. It has been estimated that about 10% of the population in Europe is affected by CKD and the number of patients is expected to grow as the prevalence of typical risk factors for CKD, such as diabetes and hypertension, is still increasing. CKD is divided into five stages, with stage I describing normal kidney functioning but evidence of kidney damage up to stage V representing kidney failure .