how many people in the US are walking around w/a new kidney??

[robertscz]

i cant seem to find any info about this and am just curious.  it seems that everyone i talk to about what is going on with myself knows "Someone" who had a transplant.  and then the next words out of their mouth is "they are doing just fine".  i know that we are in the extremely small minority in terms of people on this board compared to the overall number that has been transplanted.  so with the average of somewhere around 14,000 done per year, you would have to think somewhere between 150,000-200,000?   thats not a small number at all when you really think about it. 

1- what do you guys think the number of people walking around us with a kidney transplant is?

2- do you find that this is more common than you originally thought? meaning when you talk about it to people do any/most say the same thing they say to me in terms of knowing someone who had this done?

just curious with these two things and would like to hear from you about what you think. 

have a great weekend!!!

[Simon Dog]

I have met 4 people running around with replacements and only met one of them through the renal community.   That was the plumber who Fresenius sent to do so work on my house.  He picked up the plumbing contract when he was going to Fresenius as a customer and had his installed 17 years ago.   Others were the spouse of a high school classmate (12 years); someone at a BBQ at the physical therapy place I used after my hip job (25 years); and someone at the gun range (7 years, but his creatinine has been rising recently).   

[SooMK]

I do feel that transplants are more common than I realized. Like you, it seems that many people I talk to will mention that they know someone or know a relative of someone who has had a transplant. I know the sister of a friend who had a transplant and her brother says she doesn't follow any of the guidelines that she was given (I assume this has to do with excessive drinking and taking meds predictably, etc). This is something that I can't even imagine and a huge waste of a precious kidney. Everyone else I hear about through word of mouth seems to be doing well. The numbers would be interesting.

[Bill Peckham]

From the 2016 USRDS report (Volume 2, Chapter 2) which gives the numbers from 2014:

"On December 31, 2014, there were 678,383 prevalent cases of ESRD; ... 63.1% of all prevalent ESRD cases were receiving hemodialysis therapy, 6.9% were being treated with peritoneal dialysis, and 29.6% had a functioning kidney transplant"


<opens calculator> 200,801 ! ... wow I would have guessed 150,000 ... safe to say well over 200,000 people are walking around with a working kidney transplant

[robertscz]

From the 2016 USRDS report (Volume 2, Chapter 2) which gives the numbers from 2014:

"On December 31, 2014, there were 678,383 prevalent cases of ESRD; ... 63.1% of all prevalent ESRD cases were receiving hemodialysis therapy, 6.9% were being treated with peritoneal dialysis, and 29.6% had a functioning kidney transplant"


<opens calculator> 200,801 ! ... wow I would have guessed 150,000 ... safe to say well over 200,000 people are walking around with a working kidney transplant

this is awesome!!  exactly what i was looking for... its crazy when you really think about it.. 200k is a TON so its no wonder when i bring it up to someone they all seem to know one of those 200k!!  this is very promising and also goes to show you just how small our community here is.  i posted another question asking if most people who receive a transplant tend to not post here as much, and this really cements that thought.  seems to be a much more "common" surgery now than every before.  really good to think about in every aspect (better dr's, better drugs, more experience, all equals better long term outcomes)   

[Simon Dog]

29.6% had a functioning kidney transplant

Alternatively put: ESRD patients are on average on dialysis for a bit over 2/3 of the time since diagnosis, and live with a transplant for a bit under 1/3.

[robertscz]

met another one over the weekend.....  local comedy club has a regular comedian that comes in about once a month to open the show and he is 15yr removed from a kidney and is also a heart recipient!  crazy, the more i talk to  people about it, the more people that seem to pop up...  then again 200,000 is not a small number!!