Objective To analyse the demographics of children with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease (CKD) stages 3–5 over a 5-year period for the population of South East England.

Methods Retrospective study of all children <18 years of age with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 ml/min/1.73 m² managed at Evelina Children's Hospital, London from 2005 to 2009. eGFR was estimated using the Schwartz formula, and stages of CKD were defined using Kidney Disease Outcome Quality Initiative criteria. We excluded all patients with a functioning kidney transplant.

Results There were 293 children (58% male) with a median (IQR) age of 6.7 (2.3, 12.1) years; 288 were aged <16 years and five 16–18 years at first presentation. The mean incidence and prevalence of children <16 years with CKD stage 3–5 during the 5-year study period was 17.5 and 90.0 per million age-related population (pmarp), respectively. There was a marked increase in incidence and prevalence over the 5 years (incidence 8.4 to 25.2 pmarp; prevalence 79.5 to 104.7 pmarp). There was an initial peak in children presenting under 2 years of age (48/141, 34%) due to congenital renal disease, and a second peak in the 12–15.9-year age group (32/141, 23%) due to glomerulonephritides. Forty-five children (15%) were transplanted, and 22 (8%) transitioned to adult care. There were seven deaths giving a death rate of 0.84 per 100 patient-years.

Conclusions We observed a steady increase in the incidence and prevalence of children with CKD stage 3–5. As a result of improved management, the majority of children with CKD will proceed to kidney transplantation, transition to adult nephrology services, and continue to require lifelong medical care.