DOPPS and K / DOQI TM

DOPPS Country Investigators: Australia: Alex Disney, MD · Peter G. Kerr, MD; Belgium: Michel Jadoul, MD · Norbert H. Lameire, MD; Canada: Jean Ethier, MD · David C. Mendelssohn, MD, FRCPC; France: Bernard Canaud, MD · Christian Combe, MD; Germany: Jürgen Bommer, MD · Volker Wizemann, MD; Italy: Vittorio Andreucci, MD · Francesco Locatelli, MD; New Zealand: Mark R. Marshall, MD; Spain: Luis Piera, MD · José Miguel Cruz, MD; Sweden: Björn Wikström, MD Karl-Goran Prütz, MD; United Kingdom: Roger Greenwood, MSc, MD, FRCP · Hugh C. Rayner, MD, FRCP Japan DOPPS Investigators: Prof. Dr. Kiyoshi Kurokawa, MD, MACP · Prof. Dr. Fumiaki Marumo, MD, FACP · Prof. Dr. Yasushi Asano, MD Prof. Dr. Akira Saito, MD · Prof. Dr. Tadao Akizawa, MD, PhD · Prof. Dr. Takashi Akiba, MD, PhD · Prof. Dr. Shunichi Fukuhara, MD, MSc, DMSc US DOPPS Investigators: Friedrich K. Port, MD, MS · Donna L. Mapes, DNSc, MS · Kenneth Chen, MS · David A. Goodkin, MD Philip J. Held, PhD · Marcia L. Keen, PhD · Robert A. Wolfe, PhD · Eric W. Young, MD, MS † Indicates investigators subcontracted with the University of Michigan Recently, the University Renal Research and Education Association (URREA), which coordinates the DOPPS, and the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) created a formal partnership with the goal of improving outcomes for kidney disease patients. This partnership will promote even more effective use of DOPPS data in the creation of new K/DOQI guidelines and the refinement of existing ones. In addition, a new international effort, Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO), will make extensive use of DOPPS study results in the development and implementation of worldwide practice guidelines. The DOPPS researchers continue to study, analyze, and publish information about how dialysis practices at over 300 dialysis centers in 12 countries affect hemodialysis outcomes. In this issue of The DOPPS Report, we summarize findings on vascular access practices, anemia, bone mineral metabolism, and nutrition, and the achievement of K/DOQI targets in these clinical areas internationally. Nearly one million people worldwide are currently receiving chronic hemodialysis treatment. This number will increase dramatically over the coming decades because of aging populations and rising rates of diabetes and other diseases that may lead to end-stage renal disease (USRDS 2003 Annual Report). Since 1996, researchers involved in the Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (DOPPS) have looked at ways in which hemodialysis practices affect patient outcomes, such as living a longer and healthier life. In many cases, the findings of the DOPPS researchers are being used for the development of treatment guidelines for hemodialysis patients, including the National Kidney Foundation’s Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (K/DOQITM). As more and more patients require hemodialysis, the work of the DOPPS researchers becomes even more important. DOPPS and K/DOQITM Implications for Vascular Access, Anemia, Bone and Mineral Metabolism, and Nutrition