ASN16 Tag
21 Nov Barriers to Healthful Eating Linked to More Rapid Kidney Function Decline
Posted at 18:15h
in Author Interviews, Johns Hopkins, Kidney Disease, Nutrition, Race/Ethnic Diversity
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_29753" align="alignleft" width="80"]
Dr. Deidra Crews[/caption]
Deidra C. Crews, MD, ScM, FASN, FACP
Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Nephrology
Associate Vice Chair for Diversity and Inclusion, Department of Medicine
Director, Doctoral Diversity Program
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Baltimore MD 21224
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Studies suggest that dietary patterns influence risk of kidney function decline. Barriers may hinder urban African Americans' following healthful diets that could mitigate their increased risk of kidney function decline.
In this study, we characterized contextual barriers to healthful eating among urban African Africans with hypertension and examined the association of these barriers to kidney function decline over 1 year. We examined the presence of healthy foods in neighborhood stores of study participants.
We also assessed them for food insecurity (the inability to afford nutritionally adequate and safe foods), directly observed and documented the presence of fruits and vegetables in their homes, and examined their fruit and vegetable intake via questionnaire.
21 Nov Anion Gap Associated with Risk of ESRD in Adults with Moderate Chronic Kidney Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Tanushree Banerjee, PhD
Research Specialist in the Department of Medicine
Division of General Internal Medicine
UCSF
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Acidosis is usually noted in advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) while it is relatively unexplored whether changes in the undetermined anions, as measured by anion gap occur earlier in the course of CKD.
Consumption of animal-sourced protein is acid-inducing and therefore such diet presumably increases undetermined anions. Since higher dietary acid load is associated with progression of CKD, we wanted to explore whether the increase in undetermined anions in moderate CKD is associated with CKD progression.
21 Nov Emergency Department Use High Among CKD Patients, Primarily for Heart Failure
Posted at 17:58h
in Author Interviews, Critical Care - Intensive Care - ICUs, Emergency Care, Heart Disease, Kidney Disease
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_29537" align="alignleft" width="144"]
Dr. Paul E Ronksley[/caption]
Paul E Ronksley, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Community Health Sciences
Cumming School of Medicine
University of Calgary
Calgary Canada
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Prior studies have observed high resource use among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), which is related to the medical complexity of this patient population. However, there has been limited exploration of how patients with CKD use the emergency department (ED) and whether utilization is associated with disease severity. While the ED is essential for providing urgent or emergent care, identifying ways of improving ED efficiency and decreasing wait times has been recognized as a priority in multiple countries. Improving coordination and management of care for patients with multiple chronic conditions (the norm for CKD) in an outpatient setting may meet health care needs and ultimately improve patient experience and outcomes while reducing the burden currently placed on the ED. However, this requires an understanding of ED use among patients with CKD and the proportion of use that is amenable to outpatient care. Using a large population-based cohort we explored how rates of ED use vary by kidney disease severity and the proportion of these events that are potentially preventable by high quality ambulatory care.
We identified all adults (≥18 years) with eGFR<60 mL/min/1.73m2 (including dialysis-dependent patients) in Alberta, Canada between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011. Patients with CKD were linked to administrative data to capture clinical characteristics and frequency of ED encounters, and followed until death or end of study (March 31, 2013). Within each CKD category we calculated adjusted rates of overall emergency departmentt use, as well as rates of potentially preventable ED encounters (defined by 4 CKD-specific ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs); heart failure, hyperkalemia, volume overload, malignant hypertension).
20 Nov Difficulty Smelling May Lead to Malnutrition In Chronic Kidney Disease Patients
MedicalResearch.com Interview with: [caption id="attachment_29645" align="alignleft" width="197"]
Dr. Teodor G. Paunescu[/caption]
Dr. Teodor G. Paunescu PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Boston
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Patients with kidney disease frequently report food aversion and poor dietary intake leading to malnutrition, a complication associated with high morbidity and mortality. However, there are no effective treatments currently available to address this complication, and the mechanisms underlying anorexia and food aversion in these patients remain unclear.
Because of the critical role of olfaction in flavor appreciation and dietary intake, we decided to quantify olfactory (smelling) deficits in advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients.
We found that patients with kidney disease have significant olfactory deficits that need objective assessments for accurate characterization. Our results also indicate that olfactory deficits likely attribute to nutritional impairment in patients with kidney disease.