Kidney Disease Research Updates
Fall 2009
NKDEP Report Summarizes Accomplishments,
Future Goals
The National Kidney Disease Education Program
(NKDEP) has issued a report summarizing its activities,
accomplishments, and future goals. Established in 2000,
this National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney
Diseases (NIDDK)-sponsored program plans to expand its work
educating health care providers, individuals, and communities
about chronic kidney disease (CKD).
"As more and more Americans are affected by
CKD—due in part to rising rates of diabetes and
high blood pressure—NKDEP's charge becomes
even more important," wrote NIDDK Director
Griffin P. Rodgers, M.D., M.A.C.P., who
prefaced the report.
CKD prevalence in the United States has grown
20 to 25 percent over the past 10 years, according
to the report. About 23 million Americans have
CKD, which disproportionately affects minorities.
African Americans are four times more
likely than Caucasians to develop kidney failure.
Hispanics/Latinos with kidney failure have
increased 65 percent since 1996.
Costs for CKD care take a heavy financial toll on
health care systems; a staggering 25 percent of
Medicare patients have CKD.
CKD most often results from diabetes and high
blood pressure, and CKD can lead to kidney
failure, requiring renal dialysis or kidney transplantation.
Although treatment cannot reverse
CKD damage, it can greatly slow its progression.
Education
Education is the NKDEP's chief strategy to
reduce CKD-related morbidity and mortality.
"Many of the therapeutic interventions for
CKD are similar to those required for optimal
diabetes care," according to the report. But
unlike diabetes, which is frequently managed by
primary care providers, CKD is too often treated
as a "specialist" disease. As a result, primary
care providers tend to "defer treatment prior to subspecialty referral, missing opportunities for
early treatment."
The NKDEP develops tools that can be used
in the primary health setting to detect early
CKD and slow its progression. The NKDEP’s
Explaining GFR Tear-off Pad, which has been
translated into Spanish, Chinese, and Vietnamese,
helps care providers explain GFR, or
glomerular filtration rate—a measure of kidney
function—to patients. Understanding GFR and
knowing how to interpret the results are critical
first steps in initiating kidney-saving therapies
and lifestyle changes.
The NKDEP works with communities to raise
CKD awareness. Targeting African American
communities, the NKDEP toolkit Family
Reunion Health Guide helps get the word out
about CKD at family events. The NKDEP also
works with African American churches through
its Kidney Sundays program, which provides
talking points to help ministers educate their
congregations about CKD.
Community health centers (CHCs)—where
much of the CKD at-risk population gets care—are crucial NKDEP partners. The NKDEP’s
2008-initiated Community Health Center-CKD
pilot program is developing strategies to help
CHCs incorporate CKD care into their practices.
The pilot program arms providers with
CKD resources and expertise to help patients become more proactive in their own care. Short
web videos, for example, were produced by the
NKDEP to model provider-patient discussions
about CKD.
Going forward, the NKDEP plans to expand its
portfolio of CKD patient and provider education
materials, its work with CHCs, and CKD programs aimed at diabetes educators, clinical
pharmacists, nurse practitioners, and dialysis
center staff.
To read the summary report, titled Reducing
Disparities. Improving Care., visit the NKDEP
website at www.nkdep.nih.gov.
The NIDDK has information about CKD.
For fact sheets and easy-to-read booklets, visit
www.kidney.niddk.nih.gov.
[Top] [Next Article]
NIH Publication No. 10–4531
October 2009
|
