Nephrology News

Women who had no major comorbidities before their first pregnancy but who developed preeclampsia had a five-fold increased risk for end-stage kidney disease, according to a recently published study.

Use of bariatric surgery in patients with ESKD, most notably laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, rose nine-fold within a decade while also demonstrating a low risk for complications, according to a recently published study.

A published study found older patients with advanced chronic kidney disease or ESKD, as well as their family members, lacked knowledge regarding alternatives to dialysis. According to the study authors, this lack of knowledge may limit the patient’s ability to make informed decisions about personal care.

While the implementation of a nurse-led program to manage chronic kidney disease in a primary care setting did not slow disease progression, it did improve quality of care and help patients achieve target blood pressures, according to a published study.

A team of investigators studying electronic medical data on more than 200,000 adults found 58% of patients with a newly abnormal eGFR were not getting timely follow-up testing. Reasons for this are varied and include physician workload and electronic health record design, the researchers said.

A tool that uses artificial intelligence and a machine learning algorithm enhanced the performance of existing tests for predicting acute kidney injury in certain high-risk populations, according to a published study.

In patients with early-stage chronic kidney disease, non–vitamin K oral anticoagulants have superior benefit-risk profiles than vitamin K antagonists, according to study results published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

HHS released a proposed rule on July 10 that would provide incentives of up to 3% in adjusted payments to nephrologists and dialysis providers who improve the number of patients treated with home dialysis or who achieve a higher rate of kidney transplantation.

The quality of care for patients with CKD showed no improvements between 2006 and 2014, with recommended treatments frequently underused, according to a recently published study.

Described by HHS Secretary Alex M. Azar II as possibly the most significant step for treating kidney disease since Congress approved legislation in 1973 to create the ESRD Program, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order this week to launch Advancing American Kidney Health, a new initiative to increase earlier intervention in chronic kidney care, incentivize dialysis providers to direct more patients to treatments at home and increase the number of kidneys available for transplantation. Goals include reducing the number of Americans developing ESRD by 25% by 2030; having 80% of new patients with ESKD in 2025 either receiving dialysis at home or having a transplant; and doubling the number of kidneys available for transplant by 2030.