The new figures from the NHS Information Centre were published on 30 September and show that the raw prevalence of detected and registered chronic kidney disease in England has increased from 2.4% for 2006/07 to 2.9% for 2007/08.
To calculate the raw prevalence the total practice list is used as the denominator, the number on the register being the numerator. The register however only includes people aged 18 and over so the adult prevalence is of course higher than the 2.9%.
Have a look at your own data at here (select 'Task List' on the right hand side, then Data Tables, the prevalence files are at the bottom of the data tables page). You will see that practices continue to score highly in terms of points achieved but they is still marked variability between practices that can only be explained by differences in ascertainment. The data will help identify PCTs and practices where support and education can be targeted. The tables show individual practices so for instance, Howden Medical Practice in the East Riding of Yorkshire PCT has a CKD prevalence of 15.5%.
The unadjusted chronic kidney disease prevalence ranges from 1.9% in London up to 3.7% in the East Midlands. Given the fact that the epidemiological data suggests 8.3% of the adult population have an estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) less than 60 mls per minute, there remains a significant gap between the true and reported prevalence. We know that the majority of people with reduced GFRs have had biochemistry checks in the recent past, presumably because of other co-morbidities. So practices should be able to identify those individuals by interrogating their systems. The East Midlands Public Health Observatory has provided expected prevalence rates by PCT and Local Authority.
The Renal Policy Team and NHS Kidney Care (LINK) are now working to provide the data in a user friendly format for the whole kidney community.
