Decline is not inevitable.
A daily, evidence-graded view of everything moving in kidney research : the drugs that slow decline, the science of regeneration, and the mind-body work.
Today's studies explain how kidney disease works, but none change your care
-
Everything today is preliminary or observational, meaning it shows patterns rather than cause, so nothing here is a reason to change what you are already doing.
Today was background reading more than news. The four strongest items all look at patterns in groups of people rather than testing a treatment, so they describe what tends to travel together and cannot prove cause. One study of 26 years of Spanish hospital records found more kidney stone admissions in hotter, drier regions, which is a separate problem from chronic kidney disease. A UK trial comparing two dialysis methods was halted, and the rest of the sweep turned up nothing with kidney results in it.
Serum hepcidin and erythropoietin in relation to anemia in non-diabetic chronic kidney disease: a cross-sectional study.
Most people with kidney disease become anemic, meaning they have too few red blood cells, which causes deep tiredness. Two hormones drive this: hepcidin, which locks iron away, and erythropoietin (EPO), which tells the body to make red cells. Researchers measured both in 100 people with kidney disease who did not have diabetes. Everyone was tested at a single point in time, so this shows how the hormones and anemia travel together, not which one causes the other.
Assessing the Prevalence and Pattern of Dyslipidemia Among Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients in Selected Areas of Bangladesh: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study.
Heart and artery disease causes 40 to 50 percent of deaths in people with failed kidneys. This study measured blood fats in people on regular dialysis at several centers in Bangladesh, looking for low HDL (the protective cholesterol) and high triglycerides (a blood fat). Everyone was tested once, so it describes how common the problem is in this group. It cannot show that these blood fats cause the heart deaths.
The effect of geography and climatic factors on the hospitality burden due to kidney stones in Spain 1997-2022.
Kidney stones are becoming more common worldwide. Researchers looked at 26 years of Spanish hospital records, from 1997 to 2022, and compared stone admissions across regions with different climates. Hotter, drier areas appeared to carry more of the burden. This is an observational study, so it shows a link between climate and stones, not proof that climate causes them. Kidney stones are a different problem from chronic kidney disease, though repeated stones can damage kidneys over time.
Overlap Between Mandatory and Voluntary Value-Based Kidney Care Model Participation and Home Dialysis Use.
Medicare has run two payment programs since 2021 and 2022 that pay kidney care providers to help more patients dialyze at home. One is required, one is voluntary. This study checked whether clinics in one or both programs had more patients on home dialysis than clinics in neither. It compares groups that were already different, so it shows a link, not proof that the programs caused the change.
Understanding possible differences between haemodialysis and haemodiafiltration which affect survival in end-stage kidney disease dialysis patients: the STITCHED study halted by the COVID-19 epidemic.
Dialysis patients die mostly of heart disease. Standard dialysis (called haemodialysis) pulls waste out one way; a newer version (haemodiafiltration) adds a second method and clears a wider range of toxins. The STITCHED study was set up to compare them, but COVID-19 stopped it before it finished. This report explains the thinking behind the study and why it ended, so there are no survival results here.
Aztreonam/avibactam during continuous venovenous haemodiafiltration in a critically ill patient with NDM-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae: a case report and review of the literature.
A 76-year-old woman with failed kidneys got a serious infection from bacteria that resist most antibiotics. Doctors treated her with aztreonam/avibactam while she was on continuous dialysis in intensive care, and report how the drug behaved in her body. Almost nothing has been published on this combination, so the report is useful to specialists. One patient is not a study, so there are no results that apply to people generally.
Gastrointestinal Bleeding From Enteric Anastomosis in Simultaneous Pancreas/Kidney Transplantation: A Novel Hybrid Approach.
People with type 1 diabetes and failed kidneys are sometimes given a new pancreas and a new kidney in one operation. Bleeding in the gut, where the donor and recipient bowel are joined, is a rare but dangerous complication. Surgeons describe a new combined technique for handling it. This is a surgical report, not a study, so there are no results comparing it against the usual approach.