The first report on children with ERF, since the re-establishment of the European Registry, was published in February 2004 (1). Twelve registries (from 11 countries) participated, covering a total population of 80.3 million including 18.8 million 0-19 year olds. Data collected demonstrated an almost a three fold increase in the prevalence of ERF over 20 years (Figure).

With the increasing number of young children treated for ERF surviving well into adulthood it is very important to record the long-term outcomes and complications. Without such information it will be difficult to influence outcomes by changes in early management. Some national registries currently collect both paediatric and adult data. In other places, national registries and paediatric nephrologists should work closely together to realise seamless data collection to facilitate such outcome studies.
This year Italy and the whole of the United Kingdom have started to submit data and hopefully the paediatric registry in Spain will follow soon. We would like to encourage all European countries to submit national or regional paediatric data to support our aim.

References:
1) van der Heijden BJ, Van Dijk PC, Verrier-Jones K, Jager KJ, Briggs JD. Renal replacement therapy in children: data from 12 registries in Europe. Pediatr Nephrol 2004:19:213-221.