Data from the dialysis and transplantation program at the University of Alabama Medical Center and the Birmingham Veterans Administration Medical Center were analyzed to determine the effects of age, race, sex, and cause of renal failure on the rates of referral for treatment of End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). Two hundred ninety-six patients (196 black, 98 white, and 2 patients of unknown race) with ESRD were evaluated at the two centers between January 1, 1974 and December 31, 1978. The population base for the study was determined using the estimated 1976 population data for Jefferson County provided by the US Bureau of Census.

The study found that the average rate for entering ESRD programs was 9.1 per 100,000 persons annually. “The rate for blacks (18.8 per 100,000) was 4.2 times greater than that for whites (4.4 per 100,000).” The authors suggest that “a greater susceptibility of blacks to ESRD may well account for part of the difference between the rate of referral for ESRD treatment in the United States” and that “rates of new referrals for ESRD treatment programs in a population are influenced greatly by its age and racial characteristics, which may also determine the distribution of causes of ESRD in that population.”