Kidney Disease & Renal Transplant
Kidney Disease
I was a healthy young man, and I thought I was invincible before I was diagnosed with kidney disease. - Sean Elliot –
Chronic kidney disease is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. Approximately 800,000 people have end stage renal disease (ESRD), and it's expected to reach 1 million by 2030. Early diagnosis and prevention are effective strategies, including diligent blood pressure control, diet and nutrition, exercise, adequate sleep, and other lifestyle factors. Identifying genetic etiologies is becoming increasingly important with more than 77,000 genetic tests currently in use, and others in development. Early intervention with medications to treat or slow progression of the disease is an important intervention for thousands of patients. If progression to ESRD does occur, then living donor transplantation is the gold standard of care.
See Modify NOTA End Kidney Death Act.
New and exciting treatments are being developed including xenotransplantation of kidneys from one species to another, 3-D printing of kidneys with stem cells, and others.
Renal Analytical Platform for Transplant Outcomes Research (RAPTOR): In continued collaboration with leading researchers, we're currently designing and building the largest and most comprehensive, US nationwide, integrated data platform in kidney disease. This platform is exceptionally broad with integrated claims for over 30m patients. It also includes detailed laboratory test results and genetic test results for a subset of patients. Social determinants of health data was recently integrated into the platform. We are passionate about our new platform to help advance the diagnosis and treatment of kidney disease, including transplantation.
Publications and presentations at scientific meetings are planned for early 2025.
Kidney disease is a significant health challenge globally with an estimated global prevalence of 9%. The main risk factors for chronic kidney disease are diabetes, high blood pressure, infections, autoimmune disorders and genetic factors. Creatinine data are key in identifying acute and chronic kidney disease. Beyond our US nationwide platform, we have access to creatinine tests in a population of 5 million+ people. This cohort has information on hospital admissions, outpatient clinic visits, diagnoses, examinations, prescriptions, biopsies, surgical procedures, social data, dialysis and other treatments for more than 25 years.
