Contribution of toxic nephropathies to end-stage renal failure in Europe: a report from the EDTA-ERA registry.

In countries which reported to the registry of the European Dialysis and Transplant Association (EDTA)-European Renal Association, 2.4% of 147 092 treated patients were recognized as having analgesic nephropathy (AN) as the cause of end-stage renal failure (ESRF) on 31 December 1986. A small number of patients had other specific drug nephropathies, but these do not yet make an important contribution to ESRF treatment programmes. It is possible that more patients have ESRF due to AN, and evidence from studies of age distribution, the demography of urothelial malignancies, a special study of diagnostic criteria, data on sales of analgesics, and a study of regional areas of high incidence lend some support to that view. Changes in prescription and self-medication practices over the last 20 years have almost eradicated analgesic nephropathy from the U.K. and Sweden, two countries in which there was previously a high frequency of ESRF due to AN. In other countries where action has been taken more recently, cases are still reported fairly frequently, and this seems likely to continue for several years to come.