There is little information available that assesses whether the likelihood of acquiring CKD is the same in the different countries of Europe. The data below is taken from one study (Bruck et al, 2016).
The numbers of people with CKD stages 1-5, varied from 3.3% of the population in Norway to 17.3% in northeast Germany.
The numbers of people with CKD stages 3-5, varied from 1.0% in central Italy to 5.9% in northeast Germany.
In other words, the researchers found considerable differences in the numbers of people with both CKD stages 1-5 and CKD stages 3-5 across European populations.
The cause of this variation is not clear. But the substantial variation appeared to be due to factors other than the presence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity.
Limitations to this study
This study has several important limitations that means we should not over-interpret it.
- The prevalence of CKD may have been overestimated as a single creatinine and albuminuria measurement was used to make the diagnosis, Usually 2 measurements over three months are used
- Also not all patients who mathematically had ‘mild CKD’ (CKD1-3A) will actually have a disease. For many of these patients ‘having CKD’ is more of a risk factor for kidney disease, rather than a disease itself
- In studies which collected ethnicity data, at least 96% were white
- Different countries (and different centres with that country) used different chemical tests to measure blood creatinine level (from which GFR and therefore CKD stage is calculated).
Last Reviewed on 21 September 2023