Grant: Project Grant

Sudden decreases in kidney function (known as acute kidney injury or AKI), are frequently seen in hospitalized patients. AKI is an increasingly common problem, complicating 4 to 7% of all hospital admissions, and affecting more than 180,000 Canadians each year. Patients who develop AKI while in hospital have a high risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD), cardiovascular events (heart attack and stroke), and kidney failure requiring dialysis after hospital discharge. Some, but not all patients who have AKI may benefit from seeing a kidney specialist after hospitalization, however at present we don't know who should care for these patients, and whether receiving specialized care reduces the risk of worsening kidney function after hospitalization. Given the large number of Canadians affected by AKI, and the limited number of available kidney specialists, it would be helpful to be able to identify those patients who need specialized care at the time of discharge. We have developed a simple risk calculator that can accurately determine whether patients who had an AKI episode are at high risk of developing chronic kidney disease. In this program of research we will evaluate the use of this tool at the time of hospital discharge to flag high risk patients, and evaluate several strategies to determine how to best care for these patients once they have left hospital. The results of this research will allow us to identify how to optimize care for AKI patients in the community.