120 mln Chinese diagnosed with chronic kidney disease

A total of 120 million Chinese people are currently living with chronic kidney disease and more than 2 million have uremia, according to statistics revealed at an international forum on the treatments for the diseases held Friday.

Statistics unveiled at the forum show that the death rate among Chinese adults is 10.8 percent and residents in rural areas are high-risk groups.

According to the forum, clinical treatments mainly include peritoneal dialysis, hemodialysis and kidney transplant, and a growing number of patients are receiving peritoneal dialysis.

Wang Haiyan, a professor with Peking University First Hospital, said at the forum that the death rate and peritonitis morbidity rate for low-income people in rural areas are much higher than that of high-income groups.

"The low-income patients living in low GDP regions should get more attention from society," Wang said.

Wang said that the results of peritoneal dialysis is generally better than hemodialysis, and the price of peritoneal dialysis is relatively low.

"However, medical workers' clinical and theoretical level of ability should be further improved and more policies should be made to promote the treatment of the disease," Wang added.

Wang also suggested that a competitive mechanism should be introduced to break the current monopoly on the production and sale of peritoneal dialysis solution, which is a key element in peritoneal dialysis, in order to decrease the costs and increase benefits for low-income groups.