Background
Diabetic nephropathy has become one of the most frequent
causes of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) worldwide,
and an increasing number of diabetes patients
require haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis treatment.
The incidence of diabetes patients requiring maintenance
dialysis has been rising in Norway during the last
decade, but is still lower than what has been observed in
other parts of Europe and the U.S. [1-4]. In 2009 in
Norway, about 18% of patients undergoing dialysis had
diabetes as a comorbid condition. Diabetic nephropathy
was also the cause of ESRD in 18% of patients undergoing
dialysis, and the majority of these patients were type
2 diabetics [4]. The considerable rise in the number of
diabetes patients requiring dialysis is likely to increase
even further as the population is aging, the prevalence of
obesity is increasing, and survival rates after cardiovascular
events have improved. Although diabetes patients