The number of people with diabetes diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure more than doubled from 1995 to 2004, according to a report released on Wednesday.

The number of new cases of kidney failure jumped 114 per cent, from just under 1,100 in the first year to more than 2,100 cases in 2004, says the Canadian Institute for Health Information, adding that the incidence of Type 2 diabetes jumped during the same period.

"Diabetes is the fastest growing cause of end-stage renal disease," said Margaret Keresteci, CIHI’s manager of clinical registries.

Diabetes is now a factor in more than 40 per cent of all registered patients with end-stage renal disease, up from 25 per cent a decade ago, Keresteci added.

In end-stage renal disease, the kidneys are permanently damaged and patients need regular dialysis to stay alive until they receive a kidney transplant.

Type 2 diabetes is linked to obesity, sedentary living and an aging population. Diabetes can result in scarring of the kidneys that can prevent them from working properly.

Over the study period, the number of end-stage kidney patients with Type 1 diabetes, or insulin-dependent diabetes, dropped from 526 in 1995 to 303 in 2004.

The reduction in kidney failure among people with Type 1 may be attributed to better treatments and interventions, Keresteci said.

People with Type 1 may be screened and treated for renal failure, but people may develop kidney problems without knowing they have Type 2 diabetes, said Dr. Joanne Kappel, director of chronic kidney disease program at St. Paul's Hospital in Saskatoon.

Kappel recommended that people over 40 be tested for Type 2 diabetes every three years. Those with other risk factors, such as people of aboriginal, Hispanic, Asian, South Asian or African descent, should be tested more often.

When people with kidney failure received transplants, the five-year survival rate was 19 per cent lower for those under 65 who also had diabetes, the report showed.

A potential explanation for the lower survival is that a transplant replaces kidney function, but the blood vessel complications of diabetes continue, Kappel said.