Kidney Disease in the Washington Post

From the Washington Post:

Kidney disease in America has a ground zero, and it is located right here in Washington. Three District Zip codes -- 20002, 20011 and 20019 -- have the highest rates of end-stage kidney disease in the nation. Yet many people headed toward kidney failure have no idea there is anything wrong with them.

Kidney disease is a national epidemic, affecting about 20 million Americans, or one out of nine adults, according to the 2000 annual report of the U.S. Renal Data System (USRDS). This is double the number of a decade ago. Eight million of the 20 million have seriously reduced kidney function. Nearly 400,000 have practically no function and require a punishing regimen of dialysis or a kidney transplant to stay alive, according to the National Kidney Foundation of the National Capital Area.

Technorati Tags: Kidney Disease, Dialysis, Washington Post