Doctors may just have to be patient before recommending kidney dialysis. A recent study shows that proper monitoring of patients suffering from kidney malfunctions results in the same conditions experienced by patients placed under early dialysis.

Dr. Tim Matthews, medical director of Kidney Health Australia, says the study involving 800 kidney patients in Australia will give doctors the confidence to delay dialysis treatments until signs of chronic kidney failure appears. The eight year study was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare discovered a 71 percent increase in the number of hospitalizations for regular dialysis in Australia between 2001 and 2008. The figure is equivalent to an extra 60,000 admissions each year. The rising trend is expected to continue as Australians age and gain weight.

Researcher Francis Green said,"Two of the main risk factors for chronic disease- increased age and type 2 diabetes - are increasing in the community so that sort of indicates that this disease is going to keep increasing."

Dr. Matthews also sees the same trend. He said the number of kidney patients grew at about 6 percent a year over a ten year period. In 2008, chronic kidney disease was identified as the cause of 15 percent of all hospitalizations in Australia, while regular dialysis accounted for 4 percent of all bed days.