The China National Survey of Chronic Kidney Disease is a national multi-center cross-sectional study covering 13 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China, supported by grants from the National Key R&D Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology. Over a four-year period with study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, the first national survey of prevalence of CKD was completed. The results were published in Lancet, attracting widespread attention over the world. A comment entitled “Enter the dragon: a Chinese epidemic of chronic kidney disease?” was also published in the same issue. The paper was selected as China's 100 Most Influential International Academic Papers in 2012 by Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China.

Using a multi-stage stratified sampling method, the study included a total of 47,204 respondents who could represent Chinese adults over the 18 years old. The indicators for evaluating kidney damage, including estimated glomerular filtration rates based on serum creatinine (evaluation of kidney function), and urinary albumin to creatinine ratio (evaluation of albuminuria), were collected. In data analysis, the statistical method of composite weights was applied to adjust the prevalence of CKD. Our study showed that the prevalence of CKD in China was 10.8%, which contributed high-quality evidence to revealing the current status and risk factors of CKD in China. Meanwhile, it also provided a direction for formulation of strategies for prevention and treatment of CKD.