Protocol of a randomized controlled trial of an erythropoietin stimulating agent decision aid for anemia treatment in kidney disease.

BACKGROUND: Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) are commonly used for the treatment of anemia due to chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end stage renal disease (ESRD). Patients often lack an understanding of the potential risks and benefits of ESAs, despite government mandated education on this topic. Decision aids are tools commonly used to discuss important information in health care settings. To address this knowledge gap, we designed this study to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel ESA decision aid at promoting informed shared decision making (ISDM) between patients and providers related to ESA use for CKD- and ESRD-related anemia. METHODS: Using the principles of informed shared decision making theory, we designed and piloted an ESA decision aid intended to increase CKD and ESRD patient understanding of the potential risks and benefits of ESAs. Informed by the findings during development, the ESA decision aid was modified and finalized for testing. We will perform a randomized clinical trial to assess if administration of the ESA decision aid improves patient understanding of the risks and benefits of ESA use compared to control patients receiving standard care. Participants with either CKD or ESRD and who are receiving ESAs will be eligible for participation. The primary outcome is patients' score on the Patient Anemia Knowledge in Kidney Disease (PAKKD) survey assessed at enrollment and 3 months after. Secondary outcomes include decisional conflict related to ESAs, and patient satisfaction with provider communication. DISCUSSION: The Anemia Risk Communication for patients with Kidney Disease (ARC-KD) study will assess the effectiveness of a novel ESA decision aid to improve patient understanding of ESA use to manage CKD- and ESRD-related anemia. This decision aid is the first resource targeted to improve patient understanding of anemia management in the kidney health context. With the increasing options available for anemia management, this will serve as an important foundation to evolve in the future to optimize anemia-related shared decision making. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01992926 . Registered 11/14/2013.

APOL1 null alleles from a rural village in India do not correlate with glomerulosclerosis.

BACKGROUND: Among African-Americans, genome wide association revealed a strong correlation between the G1 and G2 alleles of APOL1 (apolipoproteinL1, also called trypanolytic factor) and kidney diseases including focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis, HIV-associated nephropathy and hypertensive nephrosclerosis. In the prevailing hypothesis, heterozygous APOL1 G1 and G2 alleles increase resistance against Trypanosoma that cause African sleeping sickness, resulting in positive selection of these alleles, but when homozygous the G1 and G2 alleles predispose to glomerulosclerosis. While efforts are underway to screen patients for G1 and G2 alleles and to better understand "APOL1 glomerulopathy," no data prove that these APOL1 sequence variants cause glomerulosclerosis. G1 and G2 correlate best with glomerulosclerosis as recessive alleles, which suggests a loss of function mutation for which proof of causality is commonly tested with homozygous null alleles. This test cannot be performed in rodents as the APOL gene cluster evolved only in primates. However, there is a homozygous APOL1 null human being who lives in a village in rural India. This individual and his family offer a unique opportunity to test causality between APOL1 null alleles and glomerulosclerosis. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We obtained clinical data, blood and urine from this APOL1 null patient and 50 related villagers. Based on measurements of blood pressure, BUN, creatinine, albuminuria, genotyping and immunoblotting, this APOL1 null individual does not have glomerulosclerosis, nor do his relatives who carry APOL1 null alleles. CONCLUSIONS: This small study cannot provide definitive conclusions but the absence of glomerulosclerosis in this unique population is consistent with the possibility that African-American glomerulosclerosis is caused, not by loss of APOL1 function, but by other mechanisms including a subtle gain of function or by the "genetic hitchhiking" of deleterious mutations in a gene linked to APOL1 G1 and G2.