Figure 1:

Geographical heterogeneity of incident KRT in the ERA Registry Annual Report 2021. (A) Unadjusted incidence of KRT in 2021 on day 1 versus median age at initiation of KRT. Median values for both variables for participating countries are represented as a red datapoint. Median and IQR were calculated from data for the countries presented in Table 1 of reference 1, except for Spain. Although Spanish autonomous communities are presented as data points in the graph, only the Spain (all) data were used to calculate the median and IQR for each variable. Q1 and Q3 were used as the interquartile area for each variable (in blue). Territories with values outside the combined IQR for both variables were considered outliers for the purpose of this figure and country names are presented in black. Additional labels in grey identify the names of countries outside the IQR for incidence, while labels in blue indicate countries below the IQR for age at incident KRT. Potential interpretation of the four outlier quadrants is provided as food for thought and debate. (B) Additionally, the gap between life expectancy at birth in the general population (2021 data from Eurostat statistics and World Bank Data) [7, 8] and age at incident KRT was calculated for each country as was the median and IQR of this new variable. In panel A, the value for the numerical gap between life expectancy (LE) at birth in the general population (GP) and age at incident KRT is shown in red in labels for the countries that are outliers at both panel A and panel B (defined as outside the IQR of 9.8–14.6 years). Panel B (in orange and green) the names of outlier countries from panel A that are also outliers in panel B. Names of countries that are only outliers in panel B are identified in black or blue, depending on their relationship to the IQR. Since three of these panel-B-only outliers are UK countries, the fourth UK country, Northern Ireland (NI, not an outlier) is shown in grey for comparison. (C) Same procedure and colour coding as in panel B, but using as reference life expectancy in the general population at the median age of incident KRT in each country (2021 data from Eurostat statistics). Note that life expectancy in the general population is now longer (panels B and C are drawn to the same scale; Ukraine missing from panel C). Three UK countries remain in one extreme and now cluster closer, while on the other extreme, both Belgium regions now cluster closer. Data in panels A and B are presented for Albania, Austria, Belgium (Dutch-speaking and French-speaking), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Italy (7 of 20 regions, all as a single data point), Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain (all and individual datapoints for each autonomous community), Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Tunisia (Sfax region), Ukraine, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In panel C, some countries are missing because of missing life expectancy data. However, the IQR for age at incident KRT is maintained as in panels A and B to better allow comparisons.