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How a Low-Protein Diet Can Delay Dialysis in Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease

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At any given time, an estimated 15% of the US adult population has chronic kidney disease (CKD). It manifests as reduced kidney function to below 60% of its normal range (estimated glomerular filtration rate < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) or by spillage of protein into the urine. The many causes of CKD include diabetes, hypertension, glomerulonephritis, and cystic kidney diseases. CKD is an irreversible malady with no known cure, and it invariably worsens over time. CKD is associated with higher mortality risks as it advances. If the patient does not die of cardiovascular or infectious events, end-stage renal disease ensues and the patient requires maintenance dialysis therapy or kidney transplantation to survive.

Each year, 130,000 Americans transition to dialysis, which is not only costly but also associated with poor health-related quality of life and an early mortality of more than 20% in the first year. Hence, slowing CKD progression and preventing or delaying dialysis can have major favorable implications for CKD outcomes. Read more.

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Top 10 Tips for Reducing Salt in Your Diet

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When it comes to dietary sodium, less is certainly best, yet Americans today consume 50% more than the recommended daily quantities of sodium. Diets high in sodium increase blood pressure levels. High blood pressure damages the kidneys over time, and is a leading cause of kidney failure.  

To help Americans reduce salt intake to the ideal one teaspoon per day, the National Kidney Foundation and Council of Renal Nutrition member Linda Ulrich offer 10 tips to reduce sodium in your diet. Read more.

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Walking daily correlates with high health-related quality of life in adults with CKD

Photo by Arek Adeoye on Unsplash
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Adults with chronic kidney disease who walked between 7,000 and 12,000 steps a day reported high health-related quality of life, according to data published in the Journal of Renal Nutrition.

“Recent studies have shown that walking, as a daily form exercise in patients with CKD, may improve cardiopulmonary function, and regulate blood pressure, blood glucose and lipid levels in patients with CKD; moreover, it plays a vital role in enhancing the quality of life of CKD patients,” JiachuanXiong, MD, from the department of nephrology at the Key Laboratory for the Prevention and Treatment of CKD of Chongqing Clinical Research Center of Kidney and Urology Diseases in Xinqiao Hospital at Army Medical University in China, and colleagues wrote. Read the full story.

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Pregnancy and CKD: Making it Possible, and the Legacy of Dr Susan Hou

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It took a strong woman to pioneer research in the field of women’s health and certainly Dr Susan Hou was one. During her career, she worked tirelessly to help us understand chronic kidney disease (CKD) and pregnancy; let’s not forget those were the times when “Children of women with renal disease used to be born dangerously or not at all – not at all if their doctors had their way.” Nowadays, although many unanswered questions remain, we have much more knowledge to guide us through the counseling and care of women with CKD who desire to become mothers, as reviewed by Oliverio et al. Read the full blog here.

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Johns Hopkins Health System Adopts Race-Free Kidney Function Equation

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Newswise — The Johns Hopkins Health System will no longer use a long-standing clinical standard that factors a patient’s race into kidney function tests. The transition to a new standard of evaluating kidney function will specifically eliminate whether a patient is “African American or non-African American” as a modifier to check how well a patient’s kidneys are working. The change to the new race-neutral assessment means thousands of Black people living with chronic kidney disease (CKD) could gain access to specialty treatment or transplantation for the first time.

Removing race from the calculation for kidney disease follows recent national recommendations from both the National Kidney Foundation and the American Society of Nephrology that say race modifiers should not be included in equations used to estimate kidney function because race is a social, not a biological, construct. Read the full story here.

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Getting listed for a kidney transplant

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The process of getting listed for a kidney transplant often begins when your doctor refers you for the transplant surgery. But, you do not have to be referred by a doctor. You are free to visit a transplant center to be evaluated if you are interested in transplant.

You can only be ready for a kidney transplant after you have passed the required evaluation at a transplant center that looks at your physical health, mental health, and finances. If you pass this evaluation and the transplant team decides you are ready for transplant, you will be added to the national waiting list. Read the complete article here.

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What You Need to Know About Sodium If You Have Chronic Kidney Disease

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Kidneys perform the vital function of filtering waste from your body. They also remove extra fluid and acid while maintaining the right balance of minerals, water, and salts in your blood.

If you’re living with chronic kidney disease (CKD), you know how important it is to protect your kidney function. Your doctor might recommend dietary changes to help, such as cutting back on salt. Read more here.

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Some Kidney Transplant Patients Respond to Fourth COVID Vax Dose

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“A fourth dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine boosted antibodies among half of kidney transplant recipients with suboptimal immune responses after three doses, a French case series found.

Among 92 patients with low anti-spike IgG titers (below 143 binding antibody units/mL) 1 month after the third dose, 50% reached the 143 BAU/mL threshold considered adequate against the initial COVID variants at 1 month following their fourth dose, reported Sophie Caillard, MD, PhD, of Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg in France, and colleagues.”

Read more here.

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