This summary document has been released to mark Kidney Week, June 1999. It will be followed up by a series of scholarly articles and then finally a comprehensive volume containing the full data set will be published. The main message of the report is that common conditions such as abnormal urine, urine infection, kidney stones, glomerulonephritis, urinary incontinence and pre-dialysis renal failure have not received sufficient attention from Australian epidemiologists, clinical researchers or health planners. There is a serious lack of good quality information on the frequency, prevalence, severity and outcome of each of these common and debilitating conditions in our country. This has been achieved through the Australian and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry, which has received funding from the Australian Kidney Foundation since its inception.
Epidemiology has a vital role to play in defining heath care priorities.
By providing state and national health planners with essential information on national disease burden and trends, and by highlighting areas where further research is required, this new survey will provide a strong evidential base for the planning of treatment and prevention services in the new century, and will focus the minds of researchers on the most important questions to be addressed.