Validation of a simple body map to measure widespread pain in urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome: A MAPP Research Network study.

PURPOSE: In patients with urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome (UCPPS), the presence of widespread pain appears to identify a distinct phenotype, with a different symptom trajectory and potentially different response to treatment than patients with pelvic pain only. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 76-site body map was administered four times, at weekly intervals, to 568 male and female UCPPS participants in the MAPP Network protocol. The 76 sites were classified into 13 regions (1 pelvic region and 12 nonpelvic regions). The degree of widespread pain was scored from 0 to 12 based on the number of reported nonpelvic pain regions. This continuous body map score was regressed over other measures of widespread pain, with UCPPS symptom severity, and with psychosocial variables to measure level of association. These models were repeated using an updated body map score (0-12) that incorporated a threshold of pain ≥ 4 at each site. RESULTS: Body map scores showed limited variability over the 4 weekly assessments, indicating that a single baseline assessment was sufficient. The widespread pain score correlated highly with other measures of widespread pain and correlated with worsened UCPPS symptom severity and psychosocial functioning. Incorporating a pain severity threshold ≥4 resulted in only marginal increases in these correlations. CONCLUSIONS: These results support the use of this 13-region body map in the baseline clinical assessment of UCPPS patients. It provides reliable data about the presence of widespread pain and does not require measurement of pain severity, making it relatively simple to use for clinical purposes.

Marshall Joffe's Contributions to Causal Inference, Biostatistics, and Epidemiology.

We pay tribute to Marshall Joffe, PhD, and his substantial contributions to the field of causal inference with focus in biostatistics and epidemiology. By compiling narratives written by us, his colleagues, we not only present highlights of Marshall's research and their significance for causal inference but also offer a portrayal of Marshall's personal accomplishments and character. Our discussion of Marshall's research notably includes (but is not limited to) handling of posttreatment variables such as noncompliance, employing G-estimation for treatment effects on failure-time outcomes, estimating effects of time-varying exposures subject to time-dependent confounding, and developing a causal framework for case-control studies. We also provide a description of some of Marshall's unpublished work, which is accompanied by a bonus anecdote. We discuss future research directions related to Marshall's research. While Marshall's impact in causal inference and the world outside of it cannot be wholly captured by our words, we hope nonetheless to present some of what he has done for our field and what he has meant to us and to his loved ones.

Clinically Important Differences for Pain and Urinary Symptoms in Urological Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome: A MAPP Network Study.

PURPOSE: Symptom heterogeneity in interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome, collectively termed urological chronic pelvic pain syndrome, has resulted in difficulty in defining appropriate clinical trial endpoints. We determine clinically important differences for 2 primary symptom measures, pelvic pain severity and urinary symptom severity, and evaluate subgroup differences. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain Symptom Patterns Study enrolled individuals with urological chronic pelvic pain syndrome. We defined clinically important differences by associating changes in pelvic pain severity and urinary symptom severity over 3 to 6 months with marked improvement on a global response assessment using regression and receiver operating characteristic curves. We evaluated clinically important differences for absolute and percent change and examined differences in clinically important differences by sex-diagnosis, presence of Hunner lesions, pain type, pain widespreadness, and baseline symptom severity. RESULTS: An absolute change of -4 was clinically important in pelvic pain severity among all patients, but clinically important difference estimates differed by pain type, presence of Hunner lesions, and baseline severity. Pelvic pain severity clinically important difference estimates for percent change were more consistent across subgroups and ranged from 30% to 57%. The absolute change urinary symptom severity clinically important difference was -3 for female participants and -2 for male participants with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome only. Patients with greater baseline severity required larger decreases in symptoms to feel improved. Estimated clinically important differences had lower accuracy among participants with low baseline symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: A reduction of 30%-50% in pelvic pain severity is a clinically meaningful endpoint for future therapeutic trials in urological chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Urinary symptom severity clinically important differences are more appropriately defined separately for male and female participants.

A randomized controlled pilot trial of anakinra for hemodialysis inflammation.

Chronic inflammation is highly prevalent among patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis and is associated with morbidity and mortality. Inhibiting inflammation with anti-cytokine therapy has been proposed but not well studied in this population. Therefore, we conducted the ACTION trial, a pilot, multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of an IL-1 receptor antagonist, anakinra, to evaluate safety, tolerability, and feasibility, and explore efficacy. Eighty hemodialysis patients with plasma concentrations of high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) 2 mg/L and above were randomized 1:1 to placebo or anakinra 100 mg, three times per week via the hemodialysis circuit for 24 weeks, with an additional 24 weeks of post-treatment safety monitoring. Efficacy outcomes included changes in hsCRP (primary), cytokines, and patient-reported outcomes. Rates of serious adverse events and deaths were similar with anakinra and placebo (serious adverse events: 2.71 vs 2.74 events/patient-year; deaths: 0.12 vs 0.22 events/patient-year). The rate of adverse events of interest (including infections and cytopenias) was significantly lower with anakinra than placebo (0.48 vs 1.40 events/patient-year). Feasibility was demonstrated by attaining the enrollment target, a retention rate of 80%, and administration of 72% of doses. The median decrease in hsCRP from baseline to Week 24 was 41% in the anakinra group and 6% in the placebo group, a between-group difference that was not statistically significant. For IL-6, the median decreases were significant: 25% and 0% in the anakinra and placebo groups, respectively. An effect of anakinra on patient-reported outcomes was not evident. Thus, anakinra was well tolerated and did not increase infections or cytopenias. The promising safety data and potential efficacy on CRP and IL-6 provide support for conducting definitive trials of IL-1 inhibition to improve outcomes in hemodialysis patients.

One-Year Outcomes of the Multi-Center StudY to Transplant Hepatitis C-InfeCted kidneys (MYTHIC) Trial.

INTRODUCTION: Transplanting kidneys from hepatitis C virus (HCV) viremic donors into HCV-negative patients (HCV D-RNA-positive/R-negative) has evolved from experimental to "standard-of-care" at many centers. Nevertheless, most data derive from single centers and provide only short-term follow-up. METHODS: The Multicenter Study to Transplant Hepatitis C-Infected Kidneys (MYTHIC) study was a multicenter (7 sites) trial of HCV D-RNA-positive/R-negative kidney transplantation (KT) followed by 8 weeks of glecaprevir/pibrentasvir (G/P) initiated 2 to 5 days post-KT. Prespecified outcomes included probability of KT (vs. matched waitlist comparators) and 1-year safety outcomes, allograft function, and survival. RESULTS: Among 63 enrolled patients, 1-year cumulative incidence of KT was approximately 3.5-fold greater for the MYTHIC cohort versus 2055 matched United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) comparators who did not opt-in to receive a kidney from an HCV-viremic donor (68% vs. 19%, P < 0.0001). Of 30 HCV D-RNA-positive/R-negative KT recipients, all achieved HCV cure. None developed clinically significant liver disease or HCV-related kidney injury. Furthermore, 1-year survival was 93% and 1-year graft function was excellent (median creatinine 1.17; interquartile range [IQR]: 1.02-1.38 mg/dl). There were 4 cases of cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease among 10 CMV-negative patients transplanted with a kidney from an HCV-viremic/CMV-positive donor. CONCLUSION: The 1-year findings from this multicenter trial suggest that opting-in for HCV-viremic KT offers can increase probability of KT with excellent 1-year outcomes. Trial Registration: NCT03781726.

Reliability and Validity of Pain and Urinary Symptom Severity Assessment in Urological Chronic Pelvic Pain: A MAPP Network Analysis.

PURPOSE: We assessed the reliability and validity of an efficient severity assessment for pelvic pain and urinary symptoms in urological chronic pelvic pain syndrome, which consists of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 578 patients were assessed using brief, empirically derived self-report scales for pelvic pain severity (PPS) and urinary symptom severity (USS) 4 times during a 1-month period and baseline clinic visit that included urological, pain and illness-impact measures. Mild, moderate and severe categories on each dimension were examined for measurement stability and construct validity. RESULTS: PPS and USS severity categories had adequate reliability and both discriminant validity (differential relationships with specific clinical and self-report measures) and convergent validity (common association with nonurological somatic symptoms). For example, increasing PPS was associated with pelvic tenderness and widespread pelvic pain, whereas USS was associated with urgency during a bladder filling test and increased sensory sensitivity. PPS and USS categories were independently associated with nonurological pain and emotional distress. A descriptive analysis identified higher likelihood characteristics associated with having moderate to severe PPS or USS or both. Lack of sex interactions indicated that the measures are comparable in interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome and chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: Women and men with urological chronic pelvic pain syndrome can be reliably subgrouped using brief self-report measures of mild, moderate or severe pelvic pain and urinary symptoms. Comparisons with a broad range of clinical variables demonstrate the validity and potential clinical utility of these classifications, including use in clinical trials, health services and biological research.

Functional mixed effects clustering with application to longitudinal urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome symptom data.

By clustering patients with the urologic chronic pelvic pain syndromes (UCPPS) into homogeneous subgroups and associating these subgroups with baseline covariates and other clinical outcomes, we provide opportunities to investigate different potential elements of pathogenesis, which may also guide us in selection of appropriate therapeutic targets. Motivated by the longitudinal urologic symptom data with extensive subject heterogeneity and differential variability of trajectories, we propose a functional clustering procedure where each subgroup is modeled by a functional mixed effects model, and the posterior probability is used to iteratively classify each subject into different subgroups. The classification takes into account both group-average trajectories and between-subject variabilities. We develop an equivalent state-space model for efficient computation. We also propose a cross-validation based Kullback-Leibler information criterion to choose the optimal number of subgroups. The performance of the proposed method is assessed through a simulation study. We apply our methods to longitudinal bi-weekly measures of a primary urological urinary symptoms score from a UCPPS longitudinal cohort study, and identify four subgroups ranging from moderate decline, mild decline, stable and mild increasing. The resulting clusters are also associated with the one-year changes in several clinically important outcomes, and are also related to several clinically relevant baseline predictors, such as sleep disturbance score, physical quality of life and painful urgency.

Comparison of deep phenotyping features of UCPPS with and without Hunner lesion: A MAPP-II Research Network Study.

OBJECTIVE: To use the phenotyping data from the MAPP-II Symptom Patterns Study (SPS) to compare the systemic features between urologic chronic pelvic pain syndrome (UCPPS) with Hunner lesion (HL) versus those without HL. METHODS: We performed chart review on 385 women and 193 men with UCPPS who enrolled in the MAPP-II SPS. 223 had cystoscopy and documentation of HL status. Among them, 12.5% had HL and 87.5% did not. RESULTS: UCPPS participants with HL were older, had increased nocturia, higher Interstitial Cystitis Symptom and Problem Indexes, and were more likely to report "painful urgency" compared with those without HL. On the other hand, UCPPS without HL reported more intense nonurologic pain, greater distribution of pain outside the pelvis, greater numbers of comorbid chronic overlapping pain conditions, higher fibromyalgia-like symptoms, and greater pain centralization, and were more likely to have migraine headache than those with HL. UCPPS without HL also had higher anxiety, perceived stress, and pain catastrophizing than those with HL. There were no differences in sex distribution, UCPPS symptom duration, intensity of urologic pain, distribution of genital pain, pelvic floor tenderness on pelvic examination, quality of life, depression, pain characteristics (nociceptive pain vs. neuropathic pain), mechanical hypersensitivity in the suprapubic area during quantitative sensory testing, and 3-year longitudinal pain outcome and urinary outcome between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: UCPPS with HL displayed more bladder-centric symptom profiles, while UCPPS without HL displayed symptoms suggesting a more systemic pain syndrome. The MAPP-II SPS phenotyping data showed that Hunner lesion is a distinct phenotype from non-Hunner lesion.

Subtyping CKD Patients by Consensus Clustering: The Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) Study.

BACKGROUND: CKD is a heterogeneous condition with multiple underlying causes, risk factors, and outcomes. Subtyping CKD with multidimensional patient data holds the key to precision medicine. Consensus clustering may reveal CKD subgroups with different risk profiles of adverse outcomes. METHODS: We used unsupervised consensus clustering on 72 baseline characteristics among 2696 participants in the prospective Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort (CRIC) study to identify novel CKD subgroups that best represent the data pattern. Calculation of the standardized difference of each parameter used the cutoff of ±0.3 to show subgroup features. CKD subgroup associations were examined with the clinical end points of kidney failure, the composite outcome of cardiovascular diseases, and death. RESULTS: The algorithm revealed three unique CKD subgroups that best represented patients' baseline characteristics. Patients with relatively favorable levels of bone density and cardiac and kidney function markers, with lower prevalence of diabetes and obesity, and who used fewer medications formed cluster 1 (n=1203). Patients with higher prevalence of diabetes and obesity and who used more medications formed cluster 2 (n=1098). Patients with less favorable levels of bone mineral density, poor cardiac and kidney function markers, and inflammation delineated cluster 3 (n=395). These three subgroups, when linked with future clinical end points, were associated with different risks of CKD progression, cardiovascular disease, and death. Furthermore, patient heterogeneity among predefined subgroups with similar baseline kidney function emerged. CONCLUSIONS: Consensus clustering synthesized the patterns of baseline clinical and laboratory measures and revealed distinct CKD subgroups, which were associated with markedly different risks of important clinical outcomes. Further examination of patient subgroups and associated biomarkers may provide next steps toward precision medicine.

The Microbiome and p-Inulin in Hemodialysis: A Feasibility Study.

Background: The intestinal microbiome is an appealing target for interventions in ESKD because of its likely contribution to uremic toxicity. Before conducting clinical trials of microbiome-altering treatments, it is necessary to understand the within-person and between-person variability in the composition and function of the gut microbiome in patients with ESKD. Methods: We conducted a multicenter, nonrandomized, crossover feasibility study of patients on maintenance hemodialysis consisting of three phases: pretreatment (8 weeks); treatment, during which the prebiotic, p-inulin, was administered at a dosage of 8 g twice daily (12 weeks); and post-treatment (8 weeks). Stool samples were collected 1-2 times per week and blood was collected weekly for 28 weeks. The gut microbiome was characterized using 16S ribosomal-RNA sequencing and metabolomic profiling. Results: A total of 11 of the 13 participants completed the 28-week study. Interparticipant variability was greater than intraparticipant variability for microbiome composition (P<0.001 by UniFrac distances) and metabolomic composition (P<0.001 by Euclidean distances). p-Inulin was well tolerated by 12 of 13 participants. Adherence to the frequent sample collection and self-aliquoting of stool samples were both 96%. A change in the microbiome composition from pretreatment to post-treatment was evident by the overall shifts in weighted UniFrac distances (P=0.004) and a progressive decrease in prevalence of high intraclass correlations, indicating an increase in intraparticipant microbiome diversity during and after p-inulin treatment. An effect of p-inulin on the metabolomic profile was not evident. Conclusions: The intraparticipant stability of the gut microbiome under no-treatment conditions, the tolerability of p-inulin, the signals of increased diversity of the microbiome with p-inulin treatment, and the willingness of participants to provide stool samples all support the feasibility of a larger trial to investigate interventions targeting the gut microbiome in patients with ESKD. Whether or not p-inulin has sufficient efficacy as an intervention requires evaluation in larger studies. Clinical Trial registry name and registration number: Gut Microbiome and p-Inulin in Hemodialysis, NCT02572882.

Natural bladder filling alters resting brain function at multiple spatial scales: a proof-of-concept MAPP Network Neuroimaging Study.

Neural circuitry regulating urine storage in humans has been largely inferred from fMRI during urodynamic studies driven by catheter infusion of fluid into the bladder. However, urodynamic testing may be confounded by artificially filling the bladder repeatedly at a high rate and examining associated time-locked changes in fMRI signals. Here we describe and test a more ecologically-valid paradigm to study the brain response to bladder filling by (1) filling the bladder naturally with oral water ingestion, (2) examining resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI) which is more natural since it is not linked with a specific stimulus, and (3) relating rs-fMRI measures to self-report (urinary urge) and physiologic measures (voided volume). To establish appropriate controls and analyses for future clinical studies, here we analyze data collected from healthy individuals (N = 62) as part of the Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP) Research Network. Participants orally ingested approximately 350 mL of water, and had a 10 min "fuller bladder" rs-fMRI scan approximately 1 h later. A second 10 min "empty bladder" rs-fMRI scan was conducted immediately following micturition. We examined multiple spatial scales of brain function, including local activity, circuits, and networks. We found changes in brain function distributed across micturition loci (e.g., subregions of the salience, sensorimotor, and default networks) that were significantly related to the stimulus (volume) and response (urinary urge). Based on our results, this paradigm can be applied in the future to study the neurobiological underpinnings of urologic conditions.

Multicenter Study to Transplant Hepatitis C-Infected Kidneys (MYTHIC): An Open-Label Study of Combined Glecaprevir and Pibrentasvir to Treat Recipients of Transplanted Kidneys from Deceased Donors with Hepatitis C Virus Infection.

BACKGROUND: Single-center trials and retrospective case series have reported promising outcomes using kidneys from donors with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. However, multicenter trials are needed to determine if those findings are generalizable. METHODS: We conducted a prospective trial at seven centers to transplant 30 kidneys from deceased donors with HCV viremia into HCV-uninfected recipients, followed by 8 weeks of once-daily coformulated glecaprevir and pibrentasvir, targeted to start 3 days posttransplant. Key outcomes included sustained virologic response (undetectable HCV RNA 12 weeks after completing treatment with glecaprevir and pibrentasvir), adverse events, and allograft function. RESULTS: We screened 76 patients and enrolled 63 patients, of whom 30 underwent kidney transplantation from an HCV-viremic deceased donor (median kidney donor profile index, 53%) in May 2019 through October 2019. The median time between consent and transplantation of a kidney from an HCV-viremic donor was 6.3 weeks. All 30 recipients achieved a sustained virologic response. One recipient died of complications of sepsis 4 months after achieving a sustained virologic response. No severe adverse events in any patient were deemed likely related to HCV infection or treatment with glecaprevir and pibrentasvir. Three recipients developed acute cellular rejection, which was borderline in one case. Three recipients developed polyomavirus (BK) viremia near or >10,000 copies/ml that resolved after reduction of immunosuppression. All recipients had good allograft function, with a median creatinine of 1.2 mg/dl and median eGFR of 57 ml/min per 1.73 m2 at 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: Our multicenter trial demonstrated safety and efficacy of transplantation of 30 HCV-viremic kidneys into HCV-negative recipients, followed by early initiation of an 8-week regimen of glecaprevir and pibrentasvir.

The Multidisciplinary Approach to The Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP) Research Network*: Design and implementation of the Symptom Patterns Study (SPS).

AIMS: The Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP) Research Network initiated a second observational cohort study-the Symptom Patterns Study (SPS)-to further investigate the underlying pathophysiology of Urologic Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (UCPPS) and to discover factors associated with longitudinal symptom changes and responses to treatments. METHODS: This multisite cohort study of males and females with UCPPS features a run-in period of four weekly web-based symptom assessments before a baseline visit, followed by quarterly assessments up to 36 months. Controls were also recruited and assessed at baseline and 6 months. Extensive clinical data assessing urological symptoms, nonurological pain, chronic overlapping pain syndromes, and psychosocial factors were collected. Diverse biospecimens for biomarker and microbiome studies, quantitative sensory testing (QST) data under multiple stimuli, and structural and functional neuroimaging scans were obtained under a standardized protocol. RESULTS: Recruitment was initiated (July 2015) and completed (February 2019) at six discovery sites. A total of 620 males and females with UCPPS and 73 Controls were enrolled, including 83 UCPPS participants who re-enrolled from the first MAPP Network cohort study (2009-2012). Baseline neuroimaging scans, QST measures, and biospecimens were obtained on 578 UCPPS participants. The longitudinal follow-up of the cohort is ongoing. CONCLUSIONS: This comprehensive characterization of a large UCPPS cohort with extended follow-up greatly expands upon earlier MAPP Network studies and provides unprecedented opportunities to increase our understanding of UCPPS pathophysiology, factors associated with symptom change, clinically relevant patient phenotypes, and novel targets for future interventions.

Combination Hydralazine and Isosorbide Dinitrate in Dialysis-Dependent ESRD (HIDE): A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Pilot Trial.

Background: Combination therapy with isosorbide dinitrate (ISD) and hydralazine (HY) reduces heart failure mortality. The safety and tolerability in individuals requiring maintenance hemodialysis (HD) is unknown. Methods: Single-center, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind pilot trial to explore safety and tolerability of ISD/HY in maintenance HD. Participants were randomized to placebo or combination ISD/HY. Dose was escalated over 3 weeks from ISD 10 mg/HY 10 mg to ISD 40 mg/HY 75 mg three times per day with the maximum tolerated dose maintained for the subsequent 21 weeks. Primary endpoints included adverse events, adverse events precluding further treatment with study medication, serious hypotension (i.e., requiring hospitalization or emergency room visit), and recurrent intra-dialytic hypotension. Efficacy signals included change in mitral annular E' velocity by tissue Doppler echocardiography and change in left ventricular coronary flow reserve on positron emission tomography. Results: A total of 17 individuals were randomized to ISD/HY (N=7) or placebo (N=10). All participants assigned to ISD/HY completed dose escalation to 40/75 mg, but dose reductions were required in two participants. No participants discontinued therapy. There were no serious hypotension events. Recurrent intradialytic hypotension was less frequent with ISD/HY (0.47 events/patient-year) than placebo (1.83 events/patient-year, P=0.04). In contrast, nausea (ISD/HY, 1.90 events/patient-year; placebo, 0.50 events/patient-year, P=0.03) was significantly more frequent, and headache and diarrhea were numerically but not significantly more frequent with ISD/HY. Adverse events were more frequent with ISD/HY (11.4 events/patient-year) than placebo (6.31 events/patient-year). We did not detect between-group differences in the change in E' (P=0.34); ISD/HY showed a mean increase of 0.6 cm/s (SD 1.1), and placebo showed a mean decrease of 0.04 cm/s (SD 0.9). Changes in coronary flow reserve were minimal, -0.3 (0.2) with ISD/HY and -0.03 (0.5) in the placebo group, P=0.19. Conclusions: ISD/HY appears to be well tolerated in patients being treated with maintenance HD, but headache and gastrointestinal side effects occur more frequently with ISD/HY compared with placebo.

Urinary fungi associated with urinary symptom severity among women with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS).

PURPOSE: To correlate the presence of fungi with symptom flares, pain and urinary severity in a prospective, longitudinal study of women with IC/BPS enrolled in the MAPP Research Network. METHODS: Flare status, pelvic pain, urinary severity, and midstream urine were collected at baseline, 6 and 12 months from female IC/BPS participants with at least one flare and age-matched participants with no reported flares. Multilocus PCR coupled with electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry was used for identification of fungal species and genus. Associations between "mycobiome" (species/genus presence, relative abundance, Shannon's/Chao1 diversity indices) and current flare status, pain, urinary severity were evaluated using generalized linear mixed models, permutational multivariate analysis of variance, Wilcoxon's rank-sum test. RESULTS: The most specific analysis detected 13 fungal species from 8 genera in 504 urine samples from 202 females. A more sensitive analysis detected 43 genera. No overall differences were observed in fungal species/genus composition or diversity by flare status or pain severity. Longitudinal analyses suggested greater fungal diversity (Chao1 Mean Ratio 3.8, 95% CI 1.3-11.2, p = 0.02) and a significantly greater likelihood of detecting any fungal species (OR = 5.26, 95% CI 1.1-25.8, p = 0.04) in high vs low urinary severity participants. Individual taxa analysis showed a trend toward increased presence and relative abundance of Candida (OR = 6.63, 95% CI 0.8-58.5, p = 0.088) and Malassezia (only identified in 'high' urinary severity phenotype) for high vs low urinary symptoms. CONCLUSION: This analysis suggests the possibility that greater urinary symptom severity is associated with the urinary mycobiome urine in some females with IC/BPS.

Difference Between Users and Nonusers of a Patient Portal in Health Behaviors and Outcomes: Retrospective Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Patient portals are frequently used in modern health care systems as an engagement and communication tool. An increased focus on the potential value of these communication channels to improve health outcomes is warranted. OBJECTIVE: This paper aimed to quantify the impact of portal use on patients' preventive health behavior and chronic health outcomes. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective, observational cohort study of 10,000 patients aged 50 years or older who were treated at the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS) from September 1, 2014, to October 31, 2016. The data were sourced from the UPHS electronic health records. We investigated the association between patient portal use and patients' preventive health behaviors or chronic health outcomes, controlling for confounders using a novel cardinality matching approach based on propensity scoring and a subsequent bootstrapping method to estimate the variance of association estimates. RESULTS: Patient-level characteristics differed substantially between portal users, comprising approximately 59.32% (5932/10000) of the cohort, and nonusers. On average, users were more likely to be younger (63.46 years for users vs 66.08 years for nonusers), white (72.77% [4317/5932] for users vs 52.58% [2139/4068] for nonusers), have commercial insurance (60.99% [3618/5932] for users vs 40.12% [1632/4068] for nonusers), and have higher annual incomes (US $74,172/year for users vs US $62,940/year for nonusers). Even after adjusting for these potential confounders, patient portal use had a positive and clinically meaningful impact on patients' preventive health behaviors but not on chronic health outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: This paper contributes to the understanding of the impact of patient portal use on health outcomes and is the first study to identify a meaningful subgroup of patients' health behaviors that improved with portal use. These findings may encourage providers to promote portal use to improve patients' preventive health behaviors.

The TiME Trial: A Fully Embedded, Cluster-Randomized, Pragmatic Trial of Hemodialysis Session Duration.

BACKGROUND: Data from clinical trials to inform practice in maintenance hemodialysis are limited. Incorporating randomized trials into dialysis clinical care delivery should help generate practice-guiding evidence, but the feasibility of this approach has not been established. METHODS: To develop approaches for embedding trials into routine delivery of maintenance hemodialysis, we performed a cluster-randomized, pragmatic trial demonstration project, the Time to Reduce Mortality in ESRD (TiME) trial, evaluating effects of session duration on mortality (primary outcome) and hospitalization rate. Dialysis facilities randomized to the intervention adopted a default session duration ≥4.25 hours (255 minutes) for incident patients; those randomized to usual care had no trial-driven approach to session duration. Implementation was highly centralized, with no on-site research personnel and complete reliance on clinically acquired data. We used multiple strategies to engage facility personnel and participating patients. RESULTS: The trial enrolled 7035 incident patients from 266 dialysis units. We discontinued the trial at a median follow-up of 1.1 years because of an inadequate between-group difference in session duration. For the primary analysis population (participants with estimated body water ≤42.5 L), mean session duration was 216 minutes for the intervention group and 207 minutes for the usual care group. We found no reduction in mortality or hospitalization rate for the intervention versus usual care. CONCLUSIONS: Although a highly pragmatic design allowed efficient enrollment, data acquisition, and monitoring, intervention uptake was insufficient to determine whether longer hemodialysis sessions improve outcomes. More effective strategies for engaging clinical personnel and patients are likely required to evaluate clinical trial interventions that are fully embedded in care delivery.

A Culture-Independent Analysis of the Microbiota of Female Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome Participants in the MAPP Research Network.

We surveyed urine microbiota of females diagnosed with interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) and matched control participants enrolled in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP) Research Network using the culture-independent methodology. Midstream urine specimens were analyzed with the Plex-ID molecular diagnostic platform that utilizes polymerase chain reaction⁻electrospray ionization⁻time-of-flight⁻mass spectrometry (PCR-ESI-TOF MS) to provide a comprehensive identification of bacterial and select fungal species. IC/BPS and control participants were evaluated for differences (presence, diversity, and abundance) in species and genus. Urine specimens obtained from 181 female IC/BPS and 182 female control participants detected a total of 92 species (41 genera). Mean (SD) species count was 2.49 (1.48) and 2.30 (1.28) among IC/BPS and control participants, respectively. Overall species composition did not significantly differ between IC/BPS and control participants at any level (p = 0.726 species level, p = 0.222 genus level). IC/BPS participants urine trended to an overabundance of Lactobacillus gasseri (p = 0.09) detected but had a lower prevalence of Corynebacterium compared with control participants (p = 0.002). The relative abundance data analysis mirrored the prevalence data differences with no significant differences in most species or genus abundance other than Lactobacillus gasseri and Corynebacterium (p = 0.08 and p = 0.001, respectively). No cause and/or effect conclusion can be drawn from this observation, but it suggests that a more comprehensive evaluation (vaginal, bowel, catheterized bladder and/or tissue-based specimens) of the lower urinary tract microbiota in IC/BPS patients is warranted.

Insulin resistance and chronic kidney disease progression, cardiovascular events, and death: findings from the chronic renal insufficiency cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Insulin resistance contributes to the metabolic syndrome, which is associated with the development of kidney disease. However, it is unclear if insulin resistance independently contributes to an increased risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression or CKD complications. Additionally, predisposing factors responsible for insulin resistance in the absence of diabetes in CKD are not well described. This study aimed to describe factors associated with insulin resistance and characterize the relationship of insulin resistance to CKD progression, cardiovascular events and death among a cohort of non-diabetics with CKD. METHODS: Data was utilized from Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort Study participants without diabetes (N = 1883). Linear regression was used to assess associations with insulin resistance, defined using the Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR). The relationship of HOMA-IR, fasting glucose, hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), and C-peptide with CKD progression, cardiovascular events, and all-cause mortality was examined with Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: Novel positive associations with HOMA-IR included serum albumin, uric acid, and hemoglobin A1c. After adjustment, HOMA-IR was not associated with CKD progression, cardiovascular events, or all-cause mortality. There was a notable positive association of one standard deviation increase in HbA1c with the cardiovascular endpoint (HR 1.16, 95% CI: 1.00-1.34). CONCLUSION: We describe potential determinants of HOMA-IR among a cohort of non-diabetics with mild-moderate CKD. HOMA-IR was not associated with renal or cardiovascular events, or all-cause mortality, which adds to the growing literature describing an inconsistent relationship of insulin resistance with CKD-related outcomes.

Safety and cardiovascular efficacy of spironolactone in dialysis-dependent ESRD (SPin-D): a randomized, placebo-controlled, multiple dosage trial.

The safety and efficacy of spironolactone is uncertain in end-stage renal disease. We randomized 129 maintenance hemodialysis patients to placebo (n=51) or spironolactone 12.5 mg (n=27), 25 mg (n=26), or 50 mg (n=25) daily for 36 weeks in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, multiple dosage trial to assess safety, tolerability and feasibility and to explore cardiovascular efficacy. The primary safety endpoints were hyperkalemia (potassium > 6.5 mEq/L) and hypotension requiring emergency department visit or hospitalization. Diastolic function was assessed by Doppler echocardiography. 125 participants (97%) completed dose escalation, with no significant difference in permanent study drug discontinuation between the groups (27.5% in placebo versus 16.7% in the combined spironolactone groups and 28% in the 50 mg group). Hyperkalemia frequency was similar between spironolactone and placebo (0.49 versus 0.50 events per patient-year) but demonstrated a significant linear trend due primarily to an increased event rate at the 50 mg dose (0.89 events per patient-year). The primary hypotension outcome was infrequent and similar with spironolactone and placebo (0.11 versus 0 events per patient-year). Gynecomastia was rare and did not differ significantly between groups. Change in diastolic function was similar with spironolactone and placebo. Spironolactone appears safe in carefully monitored maintenance hemodialysis patients, but did not affect cardiovascular parameters in this small study. Hyperkalemia occurs more frequently as dosage increases to 50 mg daily.