Surveillance of the DKD population is required to guide interventions and measure their effectiveness over the long term A system for the monitoring and surveillance of DKD should be established, to enable reporting of the number of Australians with DKD over time, markers of disease in this population, changing treatment patterns, and patient outcomes. Such disease monitoring

would enable the generation of relevant clinical practice guidelines and facilitate their evolution over time to ensure currency and maximize impact. This article is adapted from a report prepared for Kidney Health Australia by the authors, and the content is reproduced with permission. Funding for the original report was provided as an unconditional education Fulvestrant concentration grant from Boehringer Ingelheim. In no way has Boehringer Ingelheim had any part in the direction, analysis or findings of this report. Data included in this review were supplied by the United States Renal Data System (USRDS) and the Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry (ANZDATA).

The interpretation and reporting of these data are the responsibility Compound Library of the authors and in no way should be seen as an official policy or interpretation of the US government, or of the Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry respectively. “
“Vascular calcification (VC) is common in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) on dialysis, and an inverse relationship through of VC to bone mineral density (BMD) has been reported. Because elderly patients are prone to atherosclerosis and BMD artefact, we examined the prevalence and epidemiology of VC in younger patients undergoing transplantation, and its relationship to BMD. Laboratory testing was performed immediately before kidney or simultaneous pancreas–kidney (SPK) transplantation. Within 4 weeks patients underwent

BMD evaluation and lateral abdominal X-ray. Aortic calcification was scored using a validated 24-point scale. Of 650 consecutive patients X-rays were available for 531 (82%). Their median age was 41 years (16−71), 58% were male, dialysis vintage was 20 months (0–402) and 69% had kidney and 31% SPK transplants. VC scores were ≥1 in 47%, with the median score 6 (1–24) and was associated with age, dialysis vintage and presence of cardiovascular, cerebrovascular or peripheral vascular disease. In a multivariate analysis of patients with and without VC, those with VC were older and of longer dialysis vintage (OR 1.07 and 1.17 per 12 months respectively; P < 0.001 for both). In that analysis, VC was not significantly associated with gender, transplant type, presence of diabetes, current or former smoking or calcium or calcitriol therapy, and was not inversely related to hip, spine or forearm BMD Z-scores. VC is common in younger patients undergoing transplantation and, similar to older patients, is associated with age, dialysis vintage and cardiovascular pathology.