Acute kidney injury in Indigenous Australians: an unrecognised priority for action

Social determinants of infectious disease and awareness of the risks of acute kidney disease must be improved.
From 2010 to 2030, the number of people receiving renal replacement therapy for end-stage kidney disease is projected to double worldwide to more than 5.4 million people. In 2013–14, there were 186 268 hospitalisations for dialysis of Indigenous Australians, a rate ten times higher than that for other Australians because of much heavier reliance on hospital-based dialysis treatment, social disadvantage, a higher prevalence of chronic kidney disease, more rapid loss of kidney function in people with chronic kidney disease, and a greater risk of progression to end-stage kidney disease among Indigenous people with diabetes. As acute kidney injury (AKI) is a risk factor for chronic kidney disease, we need to better understand the factors underlying AKI and its population disease burden.