Renal replacement therapy in Uruguay (RRT) began to spread rapidly after the creation of the National Found of Resources (NFR) in 1980. The NFR supports the treatment by dialysis and renal transplantation for all patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the country.

The Uruguayan Registry of Dialysis (URD) started its activity in 1981 and is at the moment a mandatory Registry that includes all the patients who receive chronic dialysis treatment in the country. UDR outlined its mission and objectives since it was created.

The mission

• Know the demography of ESRD populations in RRT and the impact of treatment on the natural history of disease.
• Establish and describe the evolution of organizational aspects and the provision of RRT in Uruguay.
• Promote the excellence of care to patients with ESRD.

Objectives and goals

• Consolidate the data system of ESRD in RRT in Uruguay
• Develop a biostatistical analysis to characterize the population and describe the distribution of patients according to socio-demographic variables and treatment modalities.
• Report the incidence, prevalence, morbidity and mortality, considering the variations according to the etiology, treatment modalities and other variables.
• Analyze data in order to increase life expectancy, reduce morbidity and improve quality of life of patients with chronic renal failure.
• Encourage research that takes as their starting point the record.
• Provide the results to nephrologists, health administrators and policy-making decisions.
• Make contributions to the universal knowledge of prevention, incidence, prevalence and prognosis of the disease.

The data collection has gone through several distinct phases:

• In the first stage, from 1981 to 1989, the Registry was voluntary and the Registry Committee was in charge of the data collection.
• Since 1989, the data collection has been made through the National Found of Resources (NFR) and the Registry has become mandatory.
• Finally, in June 2004, the NFR incorporated an electronic system of data collection by which the data is entered daily, monthly or annually, as appropriate (hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis). An annual summary of this information is sent in May the following year to the URD.

The Registry of dialysis of every year includes all the patients in treatment with any modality of dialysis, alive on December 31 of the year and all patients who withdrew from treatment in the corresponding year.

The information management begins with a quality control to eliminate the cases with incorrect, inconsistent or incomplete data. Once the data is processed, the Registration Committee prepares and publishes its annual report.

Send your contribution to other record request and respond to the request of colleagues and institutions that require data in accordance with the rules for transmitting data force. The annual report can be downloaded from the website of the Uruguayan Society of Nephrology