Our findings could be useful for evaluating cost-effectiveness of various CKD interventions including the screening strategy. This study also emphasizes a remarkable increase in the socioeconomic burden associated with the progression of CKD in patients.

No abstract

Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is an important modality to support critically ill patients, and the need for CRRT treatment has been increasing. However, CRRT management is costly, and the associated resources are limited. Thus, it remains challenging to identify patients that are likely to have a poor outcome, despite active treatment with CRRT. We sought to elucidate the factors associated with early mortality after CRRT initiation. We analyzed 240 patients who initiated CRRT at an academic medical center between September 2016 and January 2018. We compared baseline characteristics between patients who died within seven days of initiating CRRT (early mortality), and those that survived more than seven days beyond the initiation of CRRT. Of the patients assessed, 130 (54.2%) died within seven days of CRRT initiation. Multivariate logistic regression models revealed that low mean arterial pressure, low arterial pH, and high Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score before CRRT initiation were significantly associated with increased early mortality in patients requiring CRRT. In conclusion, the mortality within seven days following CRRT initiation was very high in this study. We identified several factors that are associated with early mortality in patients undergoing CRRT, which may be useful in predicting early outcomes, despite active treatment with CRRT.

The Korean Society of Nephrology participated in the task force team consisting of government authorities and civilian experts to prevent and control the spread of Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) in 2015. The Korean Society of Nephrology MERS Task Force Team took an immediate action and drafted ‘the clinical recommendation for hemodialysis facilities’ to follow when the first and the only confirmed case was reported in the hemodialysis unit. Owing to the dedicated support from medical doctors, dialysis nurses, and related medical companies, we could prevent further transmission of MERS infection successfully in hemodialysis units. This special report describes the experience of infection control during MERS outbreak in 2015 and summarizes the contents of ‘the clinical practice guideline for hemodialysis facilities dealing with MERS patients’ built upon our previous experience.

Lupus nephritis (LN) is a major complication of systemic lupus erythematosus. Early intervention in lupus nephritis improves prognosis. There is an association between hyperuricemia and lupus nephritis; nevertheless, the sex-specific role of uric acid in lupus nephritis remains unclear. We retrospectively analyzed 578 patients diagnosed with LN by renal biopsy. We determine the relationship of serum uric acid to progression of LN using Kaplan–Meier survival analyses and Cox proportional hazards models. The primary end point was LN progression defined as the initiation of dialysis or kidney transplantation. Men had higher mean serum uric acid levels than did women. Every 1 mg/dL increase in baseline uric acid level increased the risk of LN progression by 15.1%. The serum uric acid level was an independent risk factor for LN progression in women (hazard ratio [HR], 1.158; confidence interval [CI], 1.018–1.317; p = 0.028) but not in men (HR, 1.499; CI, 0.964–2.331; p = 0.072). Sensitivity analysis involving serum uric acid terciles generated consistent and robust results. Serum uric acid level was an independent risk factor for LN progression in women but not in men.