How successful dialysis proves to be in treating kidney failure depends on a number of factors.

These include:

• your age
• whether you have any other long-term health conditions, such as heart disease or diabetes
• the underlying causes that led to kidney failure

Dialysis can only compensate for the loss of kidney function to a certain extent, and having kidneys that do not work properly can place a tremendous strain on the body. In addition, many people who require dialysis are already in a poor state of health.

However, it should be stressed that the survival rates of people who are on dialysis have improved over the past decade and they are expected to continue improving in the future.

One of the biggest influences on expected survival rates is the age at which a person started the dialysis; the younger the better.

For example, people who start dialysis in their late 20s have an average life expectancy of 20 years, while older adults who are over 75 years of age have an average life expectancy of four years.

The underlying cause of kidney failure also has an influence on survival rates. People who have kidney failure as a result of polycystic kidney disease and glomerulonephritis tend to have much better long-term survival rates compared with those who have kidney failure as a result of high blood pressure (hypertension) or diabetes.

The one, five and 10 year survival rates (the amount of people you would expect to still be alive one, five and 10 years after the start of dialysis) for each of the four conditions are as follows:

• polycystic kidney disease – 94% for year one, 70% for year five and 42% for year 10
• glomerulonephritis – 88% for year one, 58% for year five and 37% for year 10
• high blood pressure – 77% for year one, 33% for year five and 14% for year 10
• diabetes – 71% for year one, 29% for year five and 11% for year 10

However, as these survival rates are based on people who started dialysis in the past, they probably do not represent an accurate picture of the survival rates of someone starting treatment with dialysis today.