Research Updates in Kidney and Urologic Health

UDA Team Begins Analysis of Urologic Data

The NIDDK has funded a 5-year project, known as Urologic Diseases in America (UDA), to provide a comprehensive portrait of the illness burden and resource utilization associated with the major urologic diseases. Investigators at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Medicine lead the UDA team. Researchers from RAND Health and the Department of Veterans Affairs Sepulveda VA Medical Center are performing data analysis.

Since the project's official start date in the fall of 2001, the investigators creating the UDA compendium have been evaluating dozens of datasets, both claims-based and population-based. The final datasets were chosen for quality, relevance to urology, and ability to contribute to a multi-faceted understanding of the impact of urologic illness on the nation. They include Medicare databases, datasets collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and a database collected by Medstat that allows examination of disability and indirect costs associated with urologic illnesses. NIDDK Project Officers have directed the UDA team to examine specifically the effects of urologic illnesses on minority populations, children, and patients with co-morbidities such as diabetes, wherever possible.

In July 2002, the UDA Writing Committee met to begin interpreting the tables and charts created from initial data runs. The first conditions to be analyzed are benign prostatic hyperplasia, urinary incontinence, urinary tract infections, and nephrolithiasis. Team members anticipate that work on the next eight UDA conditions will begin early in 2003.

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