Armed conflicts and kidney patients: a consensus statement from the Renal Disaster Relief Task Force of the ERA.

During conflicts, people with kidney disease, either those remaining in the affected zones or those who are displaced, may be exposed to additional threats because of medical and logistical challenges. Acute kidney injury developing on the battlefield, in field hospitals or in higher-level hospital settings is characterized by poor outcomes. People with chronic kidney disease may experience treatment interruptions, contributing to worsening kidney function. Patients living on dialysis or with a functioning graft may experience limitations of dialysis possibilities or availability of immunosuppressive medications, increasing the risk of severe complications including death. When patients must flee, these threats are compounded by unhealthy and insecure conditions both during displacement and/or at their destination. Measures to attenuate these risks may only be partially effective. Local preparedness for overall and medical/kidney-related disaster response is essential. Due to limitations in supply, adjustments in dialysis frequency or dose, switching between hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis and changes in immunosuppressive regimens may be required. Telemedicine (if possible) may be useful to support inexperienced local physicians in managing medical and logistical challenges. Limited treatment possibilities during warfare may necessitate referral of patients to distant higher-level hospitals, once urgent care has been initiated. Preparation for disasters should occur ahead of time. Inclusion of disaster nephrology in medical and nursing curricula and training of patients, families and others on self-care and medical practice in austere settings may enhance awareness and preparedness, support best practices adapted to the demanding circumstances and prepare non-professionals to lend support.

Distribution, preparedness and management of Ukrainian adult refugees on dialysis-an international survey by the Renal Disaster Relief Task Force of the European Renal Association.

BACKGROUND: Due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, some of the about 10 000 adults requiring dialysis in Ukraine fled their country to continue dialysis abroad. To better understand the needs of conflict-affected dialysis patients, the Renal Disaster Relief Task Force of the European Renal Association conducted a survey on distribution, preparedness and management of adults requiring dialysis who were displaced due to the war. METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was sent via National Nephrology Societies across Europe and disseminated to their dialysis centers. Fresenius Medical Care shared a set of aggregated data. RESULTS: Data were received on 602 patients dialyzed in 24 countries. Most patients were dialyzed in Poland (45.0%), followed by Slovakia (18.1%), Czech Republic (7.8%) and Romania (6.3%). The interval between last dialysis and the first in the reporting center was 3.1 ± 1.6 days, but was ≥4 days in 28.1% of patients. Mean age was 48.1 ± 13.4 years, 43.5% were females. Medical records were carried by 63.9% of patients, 63.3% carried a list of medications, 60.4% carried the medications themselves and 44.0% carried their dialysis prescription, with 26.1% carrying all of these items and 16.1% carrying none. Upon presentation outside Ukraine, 33.9% of patients needed hospitalization. Dialysis therapy was not continued in the reporting center by 28.2% of patients until the end of the observation period. CONCLUSIONS: We received information about approximately 6% of Ukrainian dialysis patients, who had fled their country by the end of August 2022. A substantial proportion were temporarily underdialyzed, carried incomplete medical information and needed hospitalization. The results of our survey may help to inform policies and targeted interventions to respond to the special needs of this vulnerable population during wars and other disasters in the future.

Lessons learned during the war in Ukraine: a report from the Renal Disaster Relief Task Force of the ERA.

People living with kidney disease are among the most vulnerable at times of natural or man-made disasters. In addition to their unpredictable course, armed conflicts impose a major threat given the disruption of infrastructure, sanitation and access to food, water and medical care. The ongoing war in Ukraine has once more demonstrated the importance of preparedness, organization, coordination and solidarity during disasters. People living with kidney disease face serious challenges given their dependence on life-sustaining treatment, irrespective of whether they remain in the war zone or are displaced internally or externally. This especially affects those requiring kidney replacement therapy, dialysis or transplantation, but also patients with other kidney diseases and the medical staff who care for them. Soon after the war started, the European Renal Association assigned a Renal Disaster Relief Task Force dedicated to support the people living with kidney disease and the nephrology community in Ukraine. This report summarizes the major challenges faced, actions taken and lessons learned by this task force. We anticipate that the experience will help to increase preparedness and mitigate the devastating effects of armed conflicts on the kidney community in the future and propose to establish an international collaboration to extend this effort to other parts of the world facing similar challenges.

Early Coaching to Increase Water Intake in CKD.

INTRODUCTION: In observational studies, increased water intake improves kidney function but not in adults with CKD stage 3 and more. CKD WIT trial has shown a nonsignificant gradual decline in kidney function after 1 year of coaching to increase water intake (CIWI) [1]. We propose that CIWI may benefit in CKD stage 1-2 (G1 and G2) and depends on functional renal functional reserve (RFR) [2, 3]. OBJECTIVE: Parallel-group randomized trial was aimed to determinate the effectiveness of CIWI dependence of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) stage and RFR in adults with CKD 1-2 stages. METHODS: CKD WIT trial was taken as the basis for prospective multicenter randomized trial named "Early Coaching to Increase Water Intake in CKD (ECIWIC)." The primary outcome was the change in kidney function by eGFR from baseline to 12 months. Secondary outcomes included 1-year change in urine albumin/Cr ratio, and patient-reported overall quality of health (QH) ranged from 0 (worst possible) to 10 (best possible). CIWI aimed to have the diuresis being 1.7-2 L. There were 4 groups with nondiet sodium restriction which consisted of 31 patients each: 2 groups with CKD G1 and CKD G2, undergoing CIWI and 2 others with CKD G1 and CKD G2 without CIWI (Fig. 1a). Overall checks were made at 0, 6, and 12 months. RFR evaluation was performed using 0.45% sodium chloride oral solution. RESULTS: Of our randomized 124 patients (mean age 53.2 years; men 83 [67%], 0 died), mean change in 24-h urine volume was 0.6 L per day in G1 with CIWI group and 0.5 L in G2. No statistically significant data on eGFR depending CIWI were obtained (Fig. 1b). However, the trend suggests that CIWI improves eGFR in CKD G1 (from 95 to 96 mL/min/1.73 m2) and preserves eGFR decline in CKD G2 (78-78). The QH values were also preserved (from 7 to 7 in G1 and G2 groups). Although coaching to maintain the same water intake did not preserve physiological and pathological eGFR decreasing in CKD G1-2 (G1 from 96 to 93, G2 from 76 to 73; t = 0.6, p = 0.29, and p ≤ 0.05 in all groups) and the QH was declined (from 7 to 6 in both groups). An individual analysis of the RFR has shown that patients with RFR more than 50% (G1 19 patients, 61%, and G2 13 patients, 42%) had reliable preservation of eGFR with its increase of 1.5 mL/min on CIWI, while patients with low functional renal reserve had a drop of eGFR at 1.1 mL/min/m2 within 12 months. Patients with low normal serum sodium levels have shown worse results on CIWI. CONCLUSIONS: With CKD G1, the CIWI leads to the preservation of the renal function with its increase of GFR per 1 mL/min/m2/per year in comparison with the same water intake. In CKD G2, the CIWI prevents physiological and pathological loss of renal function, and RFR above 50% aids restoration of eGFR both in CKD G1-2. ECIWIC trial demonstrates benefit of CIWI in patients with CKD 1-2 and preserved RFR.

Diversity of kidney care referral pathways in national child health systems of 48 European countries.

Background: Primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare services in Europe create complex networks covering pediatric subspecialties, sociology, economics and politics. Two surveys of the European Society for Paediatric Nephrology (ESPN) in 1998 and 2017 revealed substantial disparities of kidney care among European countries. The purpose of the third ESPN survey is to further identify national differences in the conceptualization and organization of European pediatric kidney health care pathways during and outside normal working hours. Methods: In 2020, a questionnaire was sent to one leading pediatric nephrologist from 48 of 53 European countries as defined by the World Health Organization. In order to exemplify care pathways in pediatric primary care nephrology, urinary tract infection (UTI) was chosen. Steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome (SSNS) was chosen for pediatric rare disease nephrology and acute kidney injury (AKI) was analyzed for pediatric emergency nephrology. Results: The care pathways for European children and young people with urinary tract infections were variable and differed during standard working hours and also during night-time and weekends. During daytime, UTI care pathways included six different types of care givers. There was a shift from primary care services outside standard working hours to general outpatient polyclinic and hospital services. Children with SNSS were followed up by pediatric nephrologists in hospitals in 69% of countries. Patients presenting with community acquired AKI were admitted during regular working hours to secondary or tertiary care hospitals. During nights and weekends, an immediate shift to University Children's Hospitals was observed where treatment was started by intensive care pediatricians and pediatric nephrologists. Conclusion: Gaps and fragmentation of pediatric health services may lead to the risk of delayed or inadequate referral of European children with kidney disease to pediatric nephrologists. The diversity of patient pathways outside of normal working hours was identified as one of the major weaknesses in the service chain.

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging to uncover protein alterations associated with the progression of IgA nephropathy.

IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is one of the most diffuse glomerulonephrites worldwide, and many issues still remain regarding our understanding of its pathogenesis. The disease is diagnosed by renal biopsy examination, but potential pitfalls still persist with regard to discriminating its primary origin and, as a result, determining patient outcome remains challenging. In this pilot study, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) was performed on renal biopsies obtained from patients with IgAN (n = 11) and other mesangioproliferative glomerulonephrites (MesPGN, n = 6) in order to enlighten proteomic alterations that may be associated with the progression of IgAN. Differences in the proteomic profiles of IgAN and MesPGN tissue could clearly be detected using this approach and, furthermore, 14 signals (AUC ≥ 0.8) were observed to have an altered intensity among the different CKD stages within the IgAN group. In particular, large increases in the intensity of these signals could be observed at CKD stages II and above. These signals primarily corresponded to proteins involved in either inflammatory and healing pathways and their increased intensity was localized within regions of tissue with large amounts of inflammatory cells or sclerosis. Despite much work in recent years, our molecular understanding of IgAN progression remains incomplete. This pilot study represents a promising starting point in the search for novel protein markers that can assist clinicians in better understanding the pathogenesis of IgAN and highlighting those patients who may progress to end-stage renal disease.