AAKP News of the
Month: Don't Forget to Sign-Up for Lunch with the Experts
Don't forget to sign-up for the popular Lunch with the Experts sessions when you register for the AAKP Convention. These informal educational lunches allow attendees to learn about a specific topic in a small group with a health care professional speaking. Attendees have a chance to ask questions and speak to other individuals who may be experiencing the same issues. Kidney friendly lunches are served. For more information about Lunch with the Experts, please visit the AAKP website or call (800) 749-AAKP. | |
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| Take Charge of Your Healthcare with
My Health™ |  |
AAKP My Health™ now offers new features to help users take charge of their health care. Users can now:
· Receive appointment reminders by email
· Print emergency contact cards AAKP My Health™ is a free, unique section of the AAKP website, www.aakp.org, that provides you with online tools to be the leader in your healthcare. With AAKP My Health™, you can:
· Track your lab results
· Log your medications
· List your healthcare team members
· Prepare information for doctor visits
· Test your kidney knowledge
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| Keeping Your Job When You Need Dialysis | | If you are working when you learn your kidneys are failing, some of your most urgent questions may be about your job. Each year, half of all people who start dialysis in the U.S. are under 65. It is possible to feel well enough to work on dialysis and to make your treatment schedule fit your job if you plan ahead. Research shows people on dialysis who keep their jobs feel better. They are more physically able, with less pain. They have better general health and energy. Better physical function means they may have fewer and shorter hospital stays and live longer. Of course, people who feel better in the first place are more likely to work. But a job can also give you a sense of purpose, a place to be, an identity, and income. Those things can help you feel good about yourself and your life.
Planning ahead will help you choose the work-friendly option for you. Standard in-center hemodialysis (HD), in-center nocturnal HD, peritoneal dialysis (PD), and home HD can all work around your schedule. Many of the 5,200 or so dialysis centers in the U.S. offer in-center HD only. You may have to do some homework to find a center that offers a more work-friendly option. About 40 percent of U.S. centers have PD, and about one in ten has home HD. You may also need to change doctors if your doctor does not support your choice. Research shows that people who choose their dialysis option themselves live longer. And, they are more likely to get a transplant than those whose doctor chooses for them. |
| AAKP Partners with Kidney Groups to Produce Anemia Education Resource |
In order to help chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients learn more about anemia and its proper management, AAKP, American Kidney Fund, Dialysis Patient Citizens, National Kidney Foundation, Renal Physicians Association and Renal Support Network have teamed up to offer a new anemia education resource available at no charge to kidney patients and their physicians.
Anemia is a condition characterized by a lack of healthy red blood cells. Since it can be caused by inadequate levels of the hormone erythropoietin (EPO), which is normally made by the kidneys, anemia is very commonly experienced by kidney patients. If left untreated, anemia can lead to loss of energy, headaches, trouble sleeping, dizziness, shortness of breath, lack of appetite and a rapid heart rate. The Treating Anemia education supplement was created to help patients work with their doctors to identify anemia's symptoms, discuss the various treatment options available and monitor red blood cell counts together.
To download your FREE copy, visit www.aakp.org/brochures/Anemia. |
| Fatigue Increases Cardiovascular Risk in ESRD Patients |  Fatigue can be an important predictor for cardiovascular (CV) events in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), according to Japanese researchers. Furthermore, fatigue is among the most frequent symptoms in maintenance dialysis patients. The prevalence ranges from 60 percent to 97 percent in ESRD patients on long-term dialysis treatment, the investigators noted.
The researchers administered a survey to healthy volunteers and hemodialysis patients. The survey was a fatigue scale consisting of 64 items. A high score for fatigue itself was associated with a twofold increased risk of CV events. The presence of diabetes and a CVD history were associated with a 2.6 and 2.5 times increased risk. The results show fatigue is an important predictor for CV events in the ESRD population. The study appears in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. |
| Patient Scholarships Available for AAKP Convention |
 AAKP has partnered with Baxter Healthcare to provide 50 patient scholarships to attend the AAKP National Convention. The AAKP National Convention takes place September 2-4 in Tampa, FL at the Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel & Marina. The Convention features educational tracks specifically designed for chronic kidney disease (CKD), ESRD (dialysis) and transplant patients.
The scholarships cover the cost of a Full Convention package which includes three days of educational sessions, a Convention tote bag, souvenir t-shirt, and tickets to the First Time Attendees Luncheon, Welcoming Ceremonies and Annual Banquet.
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| Does Every Dialysis Patient, at Some Point, Stop Urinating? | At some point, most dialysis patients will stop urinating, but the rate of decline in urination is different for each patient and is dependent upon the type of kidney disease as well as the type of dialysis modality employed. Generally, patients receiving hemodialysis (HD) lose their ability to urinate faster than patients receiving peritoneal dialysis (PD). This decline in urinary output has various implications on patient management and survival.
Although PD patients lose residual renal function (RRF) at a slower rate than HD patients, the likelihood of survival on either dialysis modality over a five-year period is comparable. Therefore, it would not be advantageous to change from HD to PD despite the differences in RRF.
For those on dialysis, significant RRF permits patients' a degree of denial about the severity of their kidney disease. As long as a patient has some RRF, it permits the notion that kidney function may recover. As such, a patient may deny that dietary restrictions and dialysis prescriptions are fully applicable to their situation. |
| Stopping Anemia Drug May Be Wiser Than Reducing Dose | | Discontinuing the anemia drug epoetin may be more effective than reducing the dose for normalizing potentially dangerous high hemoglobin levels in hemodialysis patients, according to a study in the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). The results provide useful information about the balance required between administering epoetin and achieving target hemoglobin levels.
Little information is available on the effects of reducing or discontinuing epoetin in patients who develop high hemoglobin levels. To investigate, researchers measured hemoglobin levels over a two month period in 2,789 dialysis patients who discontinued epoetin and 754 dialysis patients who reduced their epoetin dose by 20-30 percent after developing high hemoglobin levels (13 g/dl or greater).
Within two months, more patients who discontinued epoetin dropped below 11 g/dl and 10 g/dl compared with patients who reduced their epoetin dose. Reducing epoetin was associated with more frequent lowest hemoglobin levels that remained above 12 g/dl, a level higher than that recommended by the FDA. The results indicate once a patient reaches a hemoglobin level of 13 g/dl or higher, discontinuing epoetin is more likely to lower the hemoglobin level to within the recommended range compared with reducing the dose of epoetin.
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| Unbundling the Bundle |  On July 26, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Reform released its final rules on its new payment system for dialysis providers. Nephrology News & Issues is hosting a one-hour webinar on the subject on August 25 at 3:00pm EDT. In the webinar, there will be a break down the complexity of the new bundle and you will hear from renal industry experts on how it will impact patients and dialysis providers. This is a FREE event. |
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| Libre Clothing Exhibiting at AAKP Convention |
 Libre is a clothing line for dialysis and infusion patients. The clothing is designed to fulfill the unmet needs of patients receiving treatment through port sites. Our inspiration comes from our own families, as we watch a mother and grandfather impacted daily by the life changing process of dialysis - Libre Clothing will be at the AAKP Annual Convention in the Exhibit Hall, booth 20. |
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