• Hemodialysis patients tend to have denser blood clots than individuals without kidney disease. • Dense blood clots were linked to an increased risk of premature death from cardiovascular and other causes.
• Among nursing home residents in the last year of life, patients with kidney failure were far less likely to have advance directives that put limitations on treatments and designated surrogate decision makers compared with other nursing home residents with serious illnesses. • Advance directives with these components were associated with a lower use of intensive interventions at the end of life. • Nearly all kidney failure patients with an advance directive putting limitations on treatment received end-of-life care that was concordant with their preferences.
• In a recent study, most women with advanced chronic kidney disease had not received breast or cervical cancer screening in recent years. • Older age, greater comorbidities, and lower income were associated with a lower rate of screening.
• In a study of children with kidney failure who were followed for a median of 7.1 years, black children had a 36% higher risk of dying than white children. The increase risk was mostly attributed to differences in access to transplantation. • Hispanic children had lower risk of death than white children even though they had lower access to transplantation.
• Compared with those born from nonsmoking mothers, young children whose mothers smoked while pregnant were 1.24-times more likely to show signs of kidney damage.
• Women with a history of recovered acute kidney injury had an increased rate of preeclampsia and delivered infants earlier than women with a history of normal kidney function.
• Risks of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are higher in older kidney transplant recipients than in older adults in the general population. • Among kidney transplant recipients, those who developed dementia or Alzheimer’s disease had higher rates of organ loss and patient death than those who did not develop these conditions.
• In a recent study, patient and organ survival rates were similar following transplantation using kidneys from donors aged 50-59 years, 60-69 years, 70-79 years, and ≥80 years. • Kidney discard rates were similar for kidneys from donors aged 50 to 79 years, but the rate was strikingly higher among kidneys from octogenarian donors.
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) applauds Congress and President Barack H. Obama for passage and signing into law the 21st Century Cures Act today. ASN advocated for specific provisions of the new law to benefit the more than 20 million Americans afflicted with kidney diseases and the 650,000 with kidney failure who rely on a kidney transplant or dialysis to live.
• Investigators reveal that Apol1, a protein implicated in kidney disease, is produced mainly by the liver.
• A healthy diet high in fruits, vegetables, fish, legumes, cereals, whole grains, and fiber, and low in red meat, salt, and refined sugars was linked with a reduced risk of early death in an analysis of 7 studies
• A simple home-based walking program improved physical capacity and quality of life in patients undergoing long-term dialysis.
• New research estimates the projected lives that would be saved if patients at high risk of cardiovascular disease underwent intensive blood pressure lowering. • The findings will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2016 November 15–20 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.
• The American Society of Nephrology (ASN), the world’s largest organization of kidney health professionals, has elected Eleanor D. Lederer, MD, FASN, as the next ASN President. • Dr. Lederer officially assumes her role as ASN President during the society’s annual meeting, ASN Kidney Week 2016, the largest gathering of kidney care specialists in the world, and will begin her term on January 1, 2017.
The results of numerous high-impact clinical trials that could affect kidney-related medical care will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2016, November 15–20 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.
• Researchers have developed a key component needed to create a bioartificial kidney. • The advance will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2016 November 15–20 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.
• In a study of patients with chronic kidney disease, each additional hour of nighttime sleep was linked with a 19% lower risk of developing kidney failure. • There was also a significant association between sleep quality and kidney failure risk. • Research that uncovered these findings will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2016 November 15–20 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.
• Multi-disciplinary care—or coordination of care among different clinicians and specialists—improves the health of patients with kidney disease and reduces costs compared with usual care. • Results from the study will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2016 November 15–20 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.
• A dipstick test for salivary urea nitrogen was accurate for diagnosing kidney disease in adults in Malawi, Africa. • Results of the test also helped predict patients’ risk of early death. • The test will be described at ASN Kidney Week 2016 November 15–20 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.
• Individuals who took proton pump inhibitors or histamine receptor-2 blockers for heartburn, acid reflux, or ulcers had elevated risks of developing kidney stones. • In individuals without acute kidney injury, proton pump inhibitors were linked with a higher risk of developing chronic kidney disease or kidney failure compared with histamine receptor-2 blockers. • Research that uncovered these findings will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2016 November 15–20 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.
The ASN Foundation for Kidney Research (ASN Foundation) is proud to announce the public launch of its Securing the Future Campaign during ASN Kidney Week 2016. This campaign coincides with the 50th anniversary of the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) and the 20th anniversary of the Career Development Grants Program.
• Amit X. Garg, MD, PhD will be presented with the ASN-AHA Young Investigator Award during ASN Kidney Week 2016, the world’s premier nephrology meeting where more than 13,000 kidney health professionals from around the world will gather in Chicago, IL from November 15–20.
• Kidney damage was linked with worse performance on tests of global cognitive function, executive function, memory, and attention. • Kidney damage may also be linked with structural abnormalities in the brain. • Research that uncovered these findings will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2016 November 15–20 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.
• In a study of patients with chronic kidney disease, nonsmokers and smokers who successfully quit had slower worsening of their kidney function than those who were unsuccessful at quitting. • Cigarette smoking partially negated the kidney-protective effects of patients’ medications. • Research that uncovered these findings will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2016 November 15–20 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.
• Scientists have developed a method to coax human pluripotent stem cells to mature into cells that go on to form the functional units of the kidney. • The team has demonstrated how the method can be used to study human kidney diseases. • The research will be presented at ASN Kidney Week 2016 November 15–20 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.
• The Live Donor Champion program increased knowledge of live donation and comfort approaching others about live donation, and it boosted live donor referrals. • The program will be described at ASN Kidney Week 2016 November 15–20 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.
• In patients with chronic kidney disease, dietary sodium restriction reduced albuminuria (an indicator of kidney dysfunction) and blood pressure, whereas paricalcitol (a vitamin D receptor activator) in itself had no significant effect on these measures. • The combination of paricalcitol and a low sodium diet resulted in the lowest albuminuria levels in patients.
• In a recent analysis, approximately half of dialysis patients had advance directives, but only 3% specifically addressed dialysis management at the end of life. • Patients were far more likely to address other end-of-life interventions than dialysis in their advance directives.
• A telemedicine program that partners a national dialysis provider with a rural hospital in Kentucky can surmount traditional barriers to deliver kidney care to rural hospitals. • The program will be described at ASN Kidney Week 2016 November 15–20 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL.
What: American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week Press Briefing When: Friday, November 18 at 9:45 a.m. CST Where: McCormick Place, Room W473 Embargoed until Saturday, November 19, at 10:30 CST (11:30 EST) Why: Briefing will feature presentations of High-Impact Clinical Trials. Dr. Pascale Lane and Dr. Gretchen Lehman Brandt will moderate and provide context and expert commentary on the science presented.
• Individuals with constipation had a 13% higher likelihood of developing chronic kidney disease and a 9% higher likelihood of developing kidney failure compared with individuals without constipation. • More severe constipation was linked with an incrementally higher risk for both chronic kidney disease and kidney failure.
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN), the world’s largest organization of kidney health professionals, released the latest analysis of the US adult nephrology workforce authored by George Washington University (GWU) researchers. • GWU’s report details a mixed picture for the specialty. The job market for US medical graduates is improving, yet the inflow of new nephrologists is outpacing the rate of retirement for older physicians. GWU projects a 58% increase in the ratio of adult nephrologists per 10,000 population between now and 2030.
• New research suggests that transmembrane TNF-alpha may allow HIV to infect kidney cells that not express the major HIV-1 CD4 receptor. The findings could provide insights on how patients develop HIV-1 associated nephropathy.
• Women are more likely than men to develop kidney damage following cardiovascular surgery, but researchers found no association between sex and risk of kidney damage when they analyzed studies that took patient characteristics and other factors into account.
• An educational and outreach program targeted to dialysis facilities increased rates of referral for transplantation, especially for African American patients.
• Factors secreted by Oxalobacter formigenes, a bacterium that lives in the large intestine, can reduce urinary excretion of oxalate in mice. Such factors may therefore help prevent or treat kidney stones.
• In analyses of adults who initiated hemodialysis between 2004 and 2012, death rates in patients who had an arteriovenous fistula created prior to starting dialysis were lower than rates in patients who started dialysis using a catheter. • Use of a fistula was associated with a lower risk of death in patients <65 years old, but not in patients aged ≥65 years. • Only 2.3% of deaths were related to complications of vascular access.
• A new analysis indicates that radiocontrast, which is commonly used during imaging tests, may be less hazardous to the kidneys than previously thought. • Among nearly 6 million hospitalized patients, those who received radiocontrast did not develop acute kidney injury at a clinically significant higher rate than other patients.
The Nephrologists Transforming Dialysis Safety (NTDS) Project aims to safeguard dialysis patients from potentially deadly infections. The American Society of Nephrology is partnering with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to implement the project. More than 450,000 kidney failure patients in the United States are being treated with dialysis.
• In a study of VA patients with kidney failure, the overwhelming majority (85.5%) of patients had either received, or were preparing to receive, renal replacement therapy. • Even among members of the oldest age group (≥85 years) with the highest burden of comorbidity, most (51.2%) received or were preparing to receive renal replacement therapy.
• A new review examines how anxiety may affect the health and care of patients with kidney failure who are undergoing hemodialysis.
The world’s largest gathering of kidney health professionals will join forces in Chicago from November 15–20, 2016, to discuss research discoveries and how to move them from bench to bedside during the American Society of Nephrology’s Kidney Week 2016.
• A newly developed compound inhibits the deleterious effects of high blood sugar on kidney cells and slows the progression of kidney disease in diabetic mice. • The compound protects the kidneys in both early and advanced phases of diabetes, and it reduces expression of genes associated with kidney inflammation and scarring.
• Most prior living kidney donors in the United States who later need a transplant receive one quickly, but some are not readily given the priority they were promised when they donated.
• In a clinical trial of patients with type 2 diabetes, canagliflozin (a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor) slowed kidney function decline to a greater extent than glimepiride (a sulfonylurea), while having similar blood sugar–lowering effects.
• In a large study of male veterans, both low and high HDL cholesterol levels were associated with higher risks of dying compared with intermediate levels, forming a U-shaped curve. • The beneficial properties of HDL cholesterol were attenuated, but remained significant, in the presence of kidney disease.
• In long-term analyses of 2 clinical trials that included patients with chronic kidney disease, a lower blood pressure target than the currently guideline-recommended goal of 140/90 mm Hg was safe and associated with protection against premature death
• The amounts of protein excreted in the urine of preterm infants with acute kidney injury differ from similar infants without kidney injury.
The American Society of Nephrology (ASN) is pleased to announce its latest ASN Kidney News podcast is now available for free download on its website. The podcast explores the topic of disparities in clinical trials with a focus on why it is a problem as well as various programs and potential solutions to improve diversity.
• A metabolite that is normally excreted in urine was linked with impaired cognitive function in patients with kidney failure. • The metabolite has been previously linked to cognitive impairment in other patient populations.
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