Grant: SPOR Networks in Chronic Disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects nearly 4 million Canadians, particularly Indigenous peoples, children and the elderly, and patients with CKD have a quality of life similar to those with advanced cancer. Treating people with CKD and kidney failure is very expensive, costing the health system nearly $50 billion per year in Canada. Kidney disease is very common in people with diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, and kidney disease increases the risk of dying in such patients by two to eight-fold. The Canadians Seeking Solutions and Innovations to Overcome Chronic Kidney Disease (Can-SOLVE CKD) Network is a national partnership centered around patients and involving all key stakeholder groups: patients, caregivers, health practitioners, policy-makers, and researchers. Our Network will create new national core infrastructure that can support research, knowledge translation and training for years to come. Over the last three years, we have worked with patients with CKD and policy-makers to determine their top research priorities. We then developed a research program around these projects, which focus on three themes: Theme 1: Identify Kidney Disease Earlier and Support Those at Highest Risk of Negative Outcomes; Theme 2: Define Best Treatments to Improve Outcomes and Quality of Life; and Theme 3: Define the Optimal Ways to Deliver Patient-centered Care in the 21st Century. Over the next 5 years, our research program will find and test new discoveries. Evidence will be translated into practice and care to benefit patients. We will build capacity among junior scientists in patient-oriented research, and will also educate patients and policy-makers about this type of research. Our vision is that by 2020, every Canadian with, or at high risk for, chronic kidney disease will receive the best recommended care, experience optimal outcomes and have the chance to participate in studies of novel therapies, regardless of age, sex, gender, location or ethnicity.