Patient Perspectives on Integrating Risk Prediction Into Kidney Care: Opinion Piece

Dwight Sparkes; Loretta Lee; Blair Rutter; Oksana Harasemiw; Bjoerg Thorsteinsdottir; Navdeep Tangri

doi:10.1177/20543581221084522

Patient Perspectives on Integrating Risk Prediction Into Kidney Care: Opinion Piece

Can J Kidney Health Dis. 2022 Mar 14:9:20543581221084522. doi: 10.1177/20543581221084522. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Dwight Sparkes¹, Loretta Lee¹, Blair Rutter¹, Oksana Harasemiw^{2

3}, Bjoerg Thorsteinsdottir⁴, Navdeep Tangri^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Patient Council, Can-SOLVE CKD Network, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
² Chronic Disease Innovation Centre, Seven Oaks General Hospital, Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
³ Department of Internal Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
⁴ Division of Community Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, Program in Bioethics, Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.

Abstract

Although Chronic Kidney Disease is common, only a relatively small proportion of individuals will reach kidney failure requiring dialysis or transplantation. Validated risk equations using routine laboratory tests have been developed that can easily be used at the bedside to help clinicians accurately predict the risk of kidney failure in their patient population, in turn informing patient-centered conversations, guiding appropriate nephrology referrals, improving the timing of dialysis treatment planning, and identifying individuals who are most likely to benefit from interventions. In this article, individuals living with kidney disease share why access to individualized prediction of kidney failure risk can help patients manage their disease and why it should be considered an essential component of kidney care.

Keywords: KFRE; kidney failure risk equation; opinion; patient perspectives; risk prediction.