title: The story of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis in Iran.
abstract: Iran, a developing country with a population of approximately 71,000,000, is the most populous country in the Middle East and the 16th most populous in the world. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is US$8900 and total health expenditure is approximately 6% of GDP. The total number of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients reported by the Management Center for Transplantation and Special Diseases (MCTSD) was 32,686 in 2007, which denotes a prevalence of 466 per million population (pmp) in Iran. Considering the growth rate of 12%, the expected number of ESRD patients in 2010 is 40,000; incidence of ESRD is expected to be 63.8 pmp. These numbers are lower compared to developed countries, which may suggest poor referral and under-diagnosis of ESRD. In Iran at present, hemodialysis (HD) and renal transplantation are the most common renal replacement therapy (RRT) modalities, accounting for 47.7% and 48.8% of prevalent RRT patients respectively. Based on the Iran Dialysis Center report of 2001, approximately 1% of ESRD patients were being treated with continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD); this number increased to approximately 3.5% (6.8% of total dialysis patients) in 2006. In the present article, reasons for underutilization of peritoneal dialysis (PD) and improvements in PD within the past 5 years will be reviewed.
authors.affiliation: Shafa CAPD Research Center, Dialysis and Transplant Patients Association, Tehran, Iran. najafi63800@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Iraj
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Najafi
authors.forename: Monirossadat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hakemi
authors.forename: Saeed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Safari
authors.forename: Shahnaz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Atabak
authors.forename: Hoshang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sanadgol
authors.forename: Nader
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nouri-Majalan
authors.forename: Mohamad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Ardalan
authors.forename: Ali Ghafari
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Moghadam
authors.forename: Hossein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ashegh
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keshvari
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran / Q000453:epidemiology; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D010531:Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*