A comparative study of the risk profile of hemodialysis patients in a for profit network and in two regional registries of the Italian Society of Nephrology.

In 2013, the Italian Society of Nephrology joined forces with Nephrocare-Italy to create a clinical research cohort of patients on file in the data-rich clinical management system (EUCLID) of this organization for the performance of observational studies in the hemodialysis (HD) population. To see whether patients in EUCLID are representative of the HD population in Italy, we set out to compare the whole EUCLID population with patients included in the regional HD registries in Emilia-Romagna (Northern Italy) and in Calabria (Southern Italy), the sole regions in Italy which have systematically collected an enlarged clinical data set allowing comparison with the data-rich EUCLID system. An analysis of prevalent and incident patients in 2010 and 2011 showed that EUCLID patients had a lower prevalence of coronary heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease, liver disease, peptic ulcer and other comorbidities and risk factors and a higher fractional urea clearance (Kt/V) than those in the Emilia Romagna and Calabria registries. Accordingly, survival analysis showed a lower mortality risk in the EUCLID 2010 and 2011 cohorts than in the combined two regional registries in the corresponding years: for 2010, hazard ratio (HR) EUCLID vs. Regional registries: 0.80 [95% confidence interval: 0.71-0.90]; for 2011, HR: 0.76 [0.65-0.90]. However, this difference was nullified by statistical adjustment for the difference in comorbidities and risk factors, indicating that the longer survival in the EUCLID database was attributable to the lower risk profile of patients included in that database. This preliminary analysis sets the stage for future observational studies and indicates that appropriate adjustment for difference in comorbidities and risk factors is needed to generalize to the Italian HD population analyses based on the data-rich EUCLID database.

[The value of early referral in the management of chronic kidney disease: NephroCare's eight years of interaction with general practitioners]. / L'early referral nella gestione della malattia renale cronica: l'esperienza della NephroCare di 8 anni di interazione con i medici di medicina generale.

It has been demonstrated that early diagnosis of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is important in containing the morbidity and mortality of this disease. It postpones the initiation of hemodialysis treatment and reduces the risk of complications. General practitioners (GPs) have a relevant part in this process because they are the first point of contact for persons in risk categories (e.g., diabetic and hypertensive patients). In 2002 NephroCare started a collaboration with GPs in the Italian region of Campania. This program, called Nephro Day, is aimed at screening patients with hypertension and diabetes, and identifying patients with CKD to reduce the late referral phenomenon. Meetings between GPs and Nephrocare nephrologists were held in which the etiology, pathology and risk factors associated with CKD as well as the screening options were discussed. Strong emphasis was placed on the importance of assigning CKD patients with hypertension and diabetes to 1 of the 5 stages of the DOQI guidelines. A clear positive correlation was observed between the age of diabetic and hypertensive patients and the risk of CKD. In the current situation of limited budgets and a limited number of nephrologists, the collaboration between GPs and specialists offers an unique opportunity to handle the problem of late referral, allowing timelier and more adequate treatment of patients with CKD and thus leading to substantial cost savings.