This review examines trends in the ESRD program, assessing progress in preventive care, hospitalizations, and mortality since 1989, the year of the Dallas Morbidity and Mortality Conference. The number of prevalent dialysis patients nearly tripled, to 366,000 in 2007 from 123,000 in 1989. Prevalent population mortality rates declined in the mid-1980s but did not change overall through the 1990s; rates declined for patients on dialysis for less than 5 yr but increased for patients on dialysis for longer than 5 yr. Death rates throughout the prevalent population have subsequently declined since 2000. In the incident dialysis population, death rates after the first year have declined, but first-year rates have remained flat since 1996; rates peak in months 2 and 3, then decline to the level of the first month by 1.2 mo. Infectious hospitalization rates in the prevalent population increased 40% in the last 10 yr. For incident patients, infectious hospitalizations increased almost 100% over 10 yr, vascular access hospitalizations by 200%, and cardiovascular hospitalizations by 30%. Use of dialysis catheters is high; 82% of patients start dialysis with a catheter. Poor planning for dialysis initiation may contribute to catheter use and the associated high infectious hospitalization rate, limiting potential for improved patient survival during the first year. Public health programs, including the new Medicare chronic kidney disease education benefit, are needed to promote better care of patients who may need dialysis to reduce the high morbidity and mortality in the first year. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 4: S5-S11, 2009. doi: 10.2215/CJN.05980809
