One million of the 1.2 million Australians hospitalised in 2007 to 2008 underwent regular dialysis treatment making the diabetes therapy the most common reason for hospitalisation in Australia during that period.

The figure was based on the report of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare entitled Chronic kidney disease hospitalisations in Australia 2000-01 to 2007-08 released on Wednesday.

During the eight-year period, the number of hospitalisations for regular dialysis treatment increased 70 percent or an average of nearly 60,000 hospitalisations per year, according to the report.

The disease affects Australians aged 25 and above with 70-year-olds having the highest prevalence of hospitalisation from 2000 to 2008.

The report also showed that men were 1.6 times as likely as women to be hospitalised for regular dialysis.

Australians living in remote areas were more likely to be hospitalised for CKD than those living in major cities. The report indicated that indigenous Australians were hospitalised at 11 times the rate of their non-Indigenous counterparts.

A common cause of CKD is diabetes, and it is likely that the increasing prevalence of Type 2 diabetes, as well as the ageing population, will result in further increases in CKD hospitalisations over time, said Frances Green of the Institute's Cardiovascular, Diabetes and Kidney Unit.

A person with CKD has a damaged kidney and/or reduced kidney function lasting for three months or more. The most common cause of the disease is diabetes.

Medicine Australia