Guidelines and Policy

Clinical practice guideline on pregnancy and renal disease

Authors: Kate Wiles, Lucy Chappell, Katherine Clark, Louise Elman, Matt Hall, Liz Lightstone, Germin Mohamed, Durba Mukherjee, Catherine Nelson-Piercy, Philip Webster, Rebecca Whybrow and Kate Bramham

Clinical practice guideline management of blood borne viruses within the haemodialysis unit

Some people who are receiving dialysis treatment have virus infection such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and/or HIV that is present in their blood. These infections can be transmitted to other patients if blood ...

Authors: Elizabeth Garthwaite, Veena Reddy, Sam Douthwaite, Simon Lines, Kay Tyerman and James Eccles

Renal Association Clinical Practice Guideline on Haemodialysis

This guideline is written primarily for doctors and nurses working in dialysis units and related areas of medicine in the UK, and is an update of a previous version written in 2009. It aims to provide guidance...

Authors: Damien Ashby, Natalie Borman, James Burton, Richard Corbett, Andrew Davenport, Ken Farrington, Katey Flowers, James Fotheringham, R. N. Andrea Fox, Gail Franklin, Claire Gardiner, R. N. Martin Gerrish, Sharlene Greenwood, Daljit Hothi, Abdul Khares, Pelagia Koufaki…

Clinical practice guideline on undernutrition in chronic kidney disease

Authors: Mark Wright, Elizabeth Southcott, Helen MacLaughlin and Stuart Wineberg

Quality assessment of clinical practice guidelines for chronic kidney disease: a systematic review

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a worldwide public health problem. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) are being developed and implemented in order to improve clinical practice related to the detection and tre...

Authors: Jorge Coronado Daza, Robin W. M. Vernooij, Karla Salas, Dimelza Osorio and Gerard Urrútia Cuchí

Glucocorticoid induced adrenal insufficiency is common in steroid treated glomerular diseases - proposed strategy for screening and management

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are frequently used to treat glomerular diseases but are associated with multiple adverse effects including hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis inhibition that can lead to adrenal insuffi...

Authors: Alvin H. K. Karangizi, May Al-Shaghana, Sarah Logan, Sherwin Criseno, Rachel Webster, Kristien Boelaert, Peter Hewins and Lorraine Harper

Clinical practice guideline monitoring children and young people with, or at risk of developing autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD)

Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) is thought to affect about 1 in 1000 people in the UK. ADPKD causes a progressive decline in kidney function, with kidney failure tending to occur in middle...

Authors: Jan Dudley, Paul Winyard, Matko Marlais, Oliver Cuthell, Tess Harris, Jiehan Chong, John Sayer, Daniel P. Gale, Lucy Moore, Kay Turner, Sarah Burrows and Richard Sandford

Natalia Tomilina – personality and profession

Natalina Tomilina, a pioneer of Russian nephrology, is a clinician, researcher, teacher, organizer, leader, and a real pioneer, who has worked in nephrology from the very beginning of its development in Russia...

Authors: Elena Zakharova

Mapping the UK renal psychosocial workforce: the first comprehensive workforce survey

Emerging evidence of psychosocial problems in CKD patients has led to an acceptance that a focus on the emotional wellbeing of the patient should be included in the provision of comprehensive CKD care. It is u...

Authors: Maaike L. Seekles, Paula Ormandy and Emma Coyne

Family dynamics in a multi-ethnic Asian society: comparison of elderly CKD patients and their family caregivers experience with medical decision making for managing end stage kidney disease

Elderly end stage kidney patients face a decision concerning whether or not to initiate dialysis. In Asia, this decision is highly influenced by family caregivers. The objective of this paper was to understand...

Authors: Semra Ozdemir, Tazeen H. Jafar, Lina Hui Lin Choong and Eric Andrew Finkelstein

Non-medical facilitators and barriers towards accessing haemodialysis services: an exploration of ethical challenges

Like most of the sub-Saharan countries, Tanzania faces significant increase in the number of patients diagnosed with an end-stage renal disease (ESRD) among which only a few manage to receive chronic haemodial...

Authors: Godwin Pancras, Judith Shayo and Amani Anaeli

Diagnosis and management of non-dialysis chronic kidney disease in ambulatory care: a systematic review of clinical practice guidelines

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is age-dependent and has a high prevalence in the general population. Most patients are managed in ambulatory care. This systematic review provides an updated overview of quality a...

Authors: Gesine F C Weckmann, Sylvia Stracke, Annekathrin Haase, Jacob Spallek, Fabian Ludwig, Aniela Angelow, Jetske M Emmelkamp, Maria Mahner and Jean-François Chenot

Why are hospitalisations too long? A simple checklist for identifying the main social barriers to hospital discharge from a nephrology ward

The present increase in life span has been accompanied by an even higher increase in the burden of comorbidity. The challenges to healthcare systems are enormous and performance measures have been introduced t...

Authors: Jean Philippe Coindre, Romain Crochette, Conrad Breuer and Giorgina Barbara Piccoli

Varicella infections in patients with end stage renal disease: a systematic review

End stage renal disease (ESRD) is on the rise globally. Varicella infection among adult patients with ESRD has been reported to lead to multiple complications and even death. While varicella vaccination has be...

Authors: Chong Yau Ong, Sher Guan Low, Farhad Fakhrudin Vasanwala, Shashidhar Baikunje and Lian Leng Low

Gabriel Richet: when medicine combines with courage

Gabriel Richet, one of the fathers of the French and international Nephrology, was a man remarkable for his courage, vision and empathy. He was proud and brave, and he presented himself proud of being brave. H...

Authors: Pierre Ronco

What we do and do not know about women and kidney diseases; questions unanswered and answers unquestioned: reflection on World Kidney Day and International Woman’s Day

Chronic Kidney Disease affects approximately 10% of the world’s adult population: it is within the top 20 causes of death worldwide, and its impact on patients and their families can be devastating. World Kidn...

Authors: Giorgina B. Piccoli, Mona Alrukhaimi, Zhi-Hong Liu, Elena Zakharova and Adeera Levin

The Pioneers of Nephrology – Professor Gabriel Richet: “I will maintain”

Gabriel Richet was one of the great pioneers of European Nephrology. After a pivotal period of work with Jean Hamburger, whom we owe the name of our discipline, Nephrology, he contributed to all aspects of thi...

Authors: Giorgina Barbara Piccoli, Gilberto Richiero and Bernard G. Jaar

On the shoulders of giants. The story behind the ‘Pioneers of Nephrology’ project

This editorial introduces a series of interviews with the pioneers of Nephrology. It’s a story that speaks by itself, given the thousands of people that are now alive thanks to the remarkable advances in renal...

Authors: Giorgina B. Piccoli, Bernard G. Jaar and Hayley Henderson

Renal association clinical practice guideline on Anaemia of Chronic Kidney Disease

Anaemia is a commonly diagnosed complication among patients suffering with chronic kidney disease. If left untreated, it may affect patient quality of life. There are several causes for anaemia in this patient...

Authors: Ashraf Mikhail, Christopher Brown, Jennifer Ann Williams, Vinod Mathrani, Rajesh Shrivastava, Jonathan Evans, Hayleigh Isaac and Sunil Bhandari

How does pre-dialysis education need to change? Findings from a qualitative study with staff and patients

Pre-dialysis education (PDE) is provided to thousands of patients every year, helping them decide which renal replacement therapy (RRT) to choose. However, its effectiveness is largely unknown, with relatively...

Authors: Gill Combes, Kim Sein and Kerry Allen

Renal Association Clinical Practice Guideline on peritoneal dialysis in adults and children

These guidelines cover all aspects of the care of patients who are treated with peritoneal dialysis. This includes equipment and resources, preparation for peritoneal dialysis, and adequacy of dialysis (both i...

Authors: Graham Woodrow, Stanley L. Fan, Christopher Reid, Jeannette Denning and Andrew Neil Pyrah

The biobank for the molecular classification of kidney disease: research translation and precision medicine in nephrology

Advances in technology and the ability to interrogate disease pathogenesis using systems biology approaches are exploding. As exemplified by the substantial progress in the personalized diagnosis and treatment...

Authors: Daniel A. Muruve, Michelle C. Mann, Kevin Chapman, Josee F. Wong, Pietro Ravani, Stacey A. Page and Hallgrimur Benediktsson

Awareness and knowledge among internal medicine house-staff for dose adjustment of commonly used medications in patients with CKD

Drug dosing errors result in adverse patient outcomes and are more common in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). As internists treat the majority of patients with CKD, we study if Internal Medicine hou...

Authors: Sikander Surana, Neeru Kumar, Amita Vasudeva, Gulvahid Shaikh, Kenar D. Jhaveri, Hitesh Shah, Deepa Malieckal, Joshua Fogel, Gurwinder Sidhu and Sofia Rubinstein

A question prompt sheet for adult patients with chronic kidney disease

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) commonly have unmet information needs. Greater patient participation in healthcare discussions can address these needs and improve health outcomes. We developed a pat...

Authors: Swati Lederer, Michael J. Fischer, Howard S. Gordon, Anuradha Wadhwa, Subhash Popli and Elisa J. Gordon

Comparison of quality-of-care measures in U.S. patients with end-stage renal disease secondary to lupus nephritis vs. other causes

Patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) due to lupus nephritis (LN-ESRD) may be followed by multiple providers (nephrologists and rheumatologists) and have greater opportunities to receive recommended ESR...

Authors: Laura C Plantinga, Rachel E Patzer, Cristina Drenkard, Stephen O Pastan, Jason Cobb, William McClellan and Sung Sam Lim

Pre-pregnancy counselling for women with chronic kidney disease: a retrospective analysis of nine years’ experience

Women with chronic kidney disease have an increased risk of maternal and fetal complications in pregnancy. Pre-pregnancy counselling is recommended but the format of the counselling process and the experience ...

Authors: Kate S Wiles, Kate Bramham, Alina Vais, Kate R Harding, Paramit Chowdhury, Cath J Taylor and Catherine Nelson-Piercy

Routine serum creatinine measurements: how well do we perform?

The first aim of the study was to investigate the accuracy and intra-laboratory variation of serum creatinine measurements in clinical laboratories in Flanders. The second purpose was to check the effect of th...

Authors: Liesbeth Hoste, Kathleen Deiteren, Hans Pottel, Nico Callewaert and Frank Martens

The financial impact of increasing home-based high dose haemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis

Evidence suggests that high dose haemodialysis (HD) may be associated with better health outcomes and even cost savings (if conducted at home) versus conventional in-centre HD (ICHD). Home-based regimens such ...

Authors: Frank Xiaoqing Liu, Catrin Treharne, Bruce Culleton, Lydia Crowe and Murat Arici

Red blood cell (RBC) transfusion rates among US chronic dialysis patients during changes to Medicare end-stage renal disease (ESRD) reimbursement systems and erythropoiesis stimulating agent (ESA) labels

Several major ESRD-related regulatory and reimbursement changes were introduced in the United States in 2011. In several large, national datasets, these changes have been associated with decreases in erythropo...

Authors: Katherine A Cappell, Sanatan Shreay, Zhun Cao, Helen V Varker, Carly J Paoli and Matthew Gitlin

Health care provider perception of chronic kidney disease: knowledge and behavior among African American patients

Chronic Kidney disease (CKD) is prevalent in the population, but also disproportionately affects African Americans. Disparities in care of chronic kidney disease and transplant for African Americans have also ...

Authors: Abby S Kazley, Emily E Johnson, Kit N Simpson, Kenneth D Chavin and Prabhakar Baliga

Higher anti-depressant dose and major adverse outcomes in moderate chronic kidney disease: a retrospective population-based study

Many older patients have chronic kidney disease (CKD), and a lower dose of anti-depressants paroxetine, mirtazapine and venlafaxine is recommended in patients with CKD to prevent drug accumulation from reduced...

Authors: Varun Dev, Stephanie N Dixon, Jamie L Fleet, Sonja Gandhi, Tara Gomes, Ziv Harel, Arsh K Jain, Salimah Z Shariff, Davy Tawadrous, Matthew A Weir and Amit X Garg

Development of a questionnaire to evaluate practitioners’ confidence and knowledge in primary care in managing chronic kidney disease

In the UK, chronic disease, including chronic kidney disease (CKD) is largely managed in primary care. We developed a tool to assess practitioner confidence and knowledge in managing CKD compared to other chro...

Authors: Mohammad Tahir, Simon Hassan, Simon de Lusignan, Lazza Shaheen, Tom Chan and Olga Dmitrieva

Fabry nephropathy: a review – how can we optimize the management of Fabry nephropathy?

Fabry disease is a rare, X-linked, lysosomal storage disease caused by mutations in the gene encoding the enzyme alpha-galactosidase A. Complete or partial deficiency in this enzyme leads to intracellular accu...

Authors: Stephen Waldek and Sandro Feriozzi

Primary care physicians’ familiarity, beliefs, and perceived barriers to practice guidelines in non-diabetic CKD: a survey study

Most non-dialysis dependent chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients are cared for by their primary care physicians (PCPs). Studies suggest many CKD patients receive suboptimal care. Recently, CKD clinical practi...

Authors: Khaled Abdel-Kader, Raquel C Greer, L Ebony Boulware and Mark L Unruh

Designing a web-application to support home-based care of childhood CKD stages 3-5: Qualitative study of family and professional preferences

There is a lack of online, evidence-based information and resources to support home-based care of childhood CKD stages 3-5.

Authors: Veronica M Swallow, Andrew G Hall, Ian Carolan, Sheila Santacroce, Nicholas JA Webb, Trish Smith and Noreen Hanif

Agreement of reported vascular access on the medical evidence report and on medicare claims at hemodialysis initiation

The choice of vascular access type is an important aspect of care for incident hemodialysis patients. However, data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medical Evidence Report (form CMS-272...

Authors: Craig A Solid, Allan J Collins, James P Ebben, Shu-Cheng Chen, Arman Faravardeh, Robert N Foley and Areef Ishani

Economic evaluations of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers in type 2 diabetic nephropathy: a systematic review

Structured comparison of pharmacoeconomic analyses for ACEIs and ARBs in patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy is still lacking. This review aims to systematically review the cost-effectiveness of both ACE...

Authors: Yunyu Huang, Qiyun Zhou, Flora M Haaijer-Ruskamp and Maarten J Postma

Guideline adherence for identification and hydration of high-risk hospital patients for contrast-induced nephropathy

Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is a common cause of acute renal failure in hospital patients. To prevent CIN, identification and hydration of high-risk patients is important. Prevention of CIN by hydration...

Authors: Janneke Schilp, Carolien de Blok, Maaike Langelaan, Peter Spreeuwenberg and Cordula Wagner

Effective peer-to-peer support for young people with end-stage renal disease: a mixed methods evaluation of Camp COOL

The Camp COOL programme aims to help young Dutch people with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) develop self-management skills. Fellow patients already treated in adult care (hereafter referred to as ‘buddies’) or...

Authors: Jane NT Sattoe, Susan Jedeloo and AnneLoes van Staa

Perceptions and use of the national kidney foundation KDOQI guidelines: a survey of U.S. renal healthcare providers

The National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) developed guidelines to care for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). While these are disseminated through the NKF...

Authors: Michelle M Estrella, Bernard G Jaar, Kerri L Cavanaugh, Chester H Fox, Mark A Perazella, Sandeep S Soman, Emily Howell, Michael V Rocco and Michael J Choi

The British Columbia Nephrologists’ Access Study (BCNAS) – a prospective, health services interventional study to develop waiting time benchmarks and reduce wait times for out-patient nephrology consultations

Early referral and management of high-risk chronic kidney disease may prevent or delay the need for dialysis. Automatic eGFR reporting has increased demand for out-patient nephrology consultations and in some ...

Authors: Michael E Schachter, Alexandra Romann, Ognjenka Djurdev, Adeera Levin and Monica Beaulieu

Influence of safety warnings on ESA prescribing among dialysis patients using an interrupted time series

In March, 2007, a black box warning was issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to use the lowest possible erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA) doses for treatment of anemia associated with renal d...

Authors: Mae Thamer, Yi Zhang, Dejian Lai, Onkar Kshirsagar and Dennis Cotter

Timing of preemptive vascular access placement: do we understand the natural history of advanced CKD?: an observational study

Little is known about the targets and expectations of practicing nephrologists with regard to timing of preemptive AV access surgery and how these relate to actual observed practice patterns in clinical care.

Authors: Nisha Bansal, Chenyin He, Daniel P Murphy, Kirsten L Johansen and Chi-yuan Hsu