Remote vs. face-to-face activities in the teaching of renal pathophysiology in the context of social isolation during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic forced medical schools around the world to adopt emergency remote learning as a resort to avoid interruption of courses. However, the effectiveness of online classes as an educational strategy has been questioned by medical educators and students. In a prospective observational study design, students enrolled in a renal physiology and pathophysiology course were exposed to either face-to-face or remote synchronous classes. Students taught online obtained significantly higher mean scores than the group who had in-person classes, both groups assessed with identical exams. Appropriate screening tests suggested that fraud is unlikely to have significantly influenced these results and that the observed differences in performance reflected increased learning by the remote group. These observations suggest that online classes can help to maintain the continuity of physiology and pathophysiology courses during periods of social isolation and may contribute to improving learning under normal conditions.NEW & NOTEWORTHY In this study, we were able to make a rare direct comparison of face-to-face and remote strategies for the teaching of undergraduate medical students in a specific area, namely, renal pathophysiology. Unexpectedly, students who attended the remote course had significantly higher grades than those who had mostly in-person classes.

Older patients are less prone to fast decline of renal function: a propensity-matched study.

PURPOSE: Despite CKD is common among older patients, and although factors associated with CKD progression have been explored over decades, little is known about the decline of renal function specifically in older individuals. METHODS: We included adult patients with CKD on conservative management in a propensity-score matched study 1:1 older (> 65 year) and young (≤ 65 yr). Factors associated with the slope of the decline of eGFR such as proteinuria, initial eGFR, diabetes, sex, and use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor block (ACEI/ARB) were analyzed. Inclusion criteria were at least two consultations in the service and an initial eGFR lower than 45 ml/min/m2, in the period between January 2012 and December 2017. RESULTS: Crude analysis of eGFR decline shows a slower progression of older patients when compared to younger patients in both absolute change [- 2.0 (- 4.5, - 1.0) vs. -3.0 (- 7.0, - 1.0) ml/min/1.73m2, p < 0.001] and slope of eGFR reduction [- 2.2 (- 4.4, - 1.0) vs. 3.1 (- 6.7, - 1.2)) ml/min/1.73m2, p < 0.001]. Patients considered fast progressors (> 5 ml/min/1.73 m2/year decline in eGFR) were less likely to be older (35.2% young vs. 22.0% older, p < 0.001). Adjusted logistic multivariate regression confirmed that older patients had less odds ratio of eGFR decline, independently of the presence of proteinuria, diabetes, ACEI/ARB use, sex, baseline eGFR, baseline phosphate and baseline 25(OH) vitamin D. CONCLUSION: Older patients present slower CKD progression even after multiple adjustments. This information should be taken into consideration while treating these patients on conservative management and should be kept in mind while planning dialysis start.