The Renal Dietitians Dietetic Practice Group is working with the National Kidney Disease Education Program to raise awareness about the seriousness of kidney disease, the importance of testing those at high risk, and the availability of treatment to prevent or slow kidney failure.
The National Kidney Disease Education Program’s (NKDEP) You Have The Power To Prevent Kidney Disease campaign seeks to bridge the gap between evidence and practice in the detection and treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Over the past ten years, significant advances have been made in CKD. Economical and effective testing and therapy now exist. Yet testing and therapy are being inadequately applied. As a result, the campaign is reaching out to primary care providers and other health professionals with important messages about kidney disease.
Advances over the past ten years include:
- Twenty-four hour urine collection is no longer necessary.
- Serum creatinine applied to a prediction equation to estimate GFR and a spot urinealbumin to urine creatinine ratio are preferable to 24-hour urine collection.
The NKDEP, the Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI) of the National Kidney Foundation, and the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC 7) all recommend use of the MDRD equation to estimate GFR in adults. A GFR calculator is available at www.nkdep.nih.gov.
- Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) have proven safe, relatively simple and quite effective at slowing or halting the progression of CKD in diabetes and hypertension patients, and should be prescribed to protect kidney function in these patients.
In addition, coordination among groups is enhancing patient care:
- Laboratories at the National Institutes of Health, the Veterans Administration and the Indian Health Service routinely report estimated GFR with creatinine values. LabCorp and Quest Diagnostics have announced that they also are beginning to report estimated GFR for their clients, and other laboratories are implementing similar measures.
- The NKDEP and the Renal Physicians Association have developed a Consult Form Template to facilitate communication between nephrologists and primary care providers and efficiently delineate areas of care. The template is available on the NKDEP and RPA websites.
- For more information about kidney disease, the campaign or how you can become involved, visit http://www.nkdep.nih.gov/ or call 1-866-4-KIDNEY.
The National Kidney Disease Education Program is an initiative of the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
