AAKP is partnering on research that will help improve understanding of kidney patients' perceptions, attitudes and behaviors related to the treatment of anemia, including a focus on blood transfusion. The company conducting this research manufactures treatments used by CKD patients to manage anemia. By gathering patient input, researchers aim to provide information that will help medical professionals, patients and caregivers fully understand patient perspectives, which is consistent with our mission of improving the health and well-being of CKD patients.

Watch for an invitation to participate in the survey to arrive by email on or about November 12^th.  The email will include a link to the survey. Note that the confidentiality of personal health information provided in the survey will be protected.

Intravenous (IV) administration of ferric carboxymaltose can treat iron deficiency in non-dialysis-dependent CKD (ND-CKD) patients more effectively than oral iron preparations and it is better tolerated, new findings suggest. In a study of 255 ND-CKD patients with iron-deficiency anemia, researchers demonstrated that IV ferric carboxymaltose increases hemoglobin (Hb) levels and replenishes iron stores better than oral iron, according to an online report in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation. The most common adverse events in the ferric carboxymaltose group included peripheral edema, hyperkalemia, urinary tract infection, and hypotension.

Hospitalizations for diabetes in the United States rose 65 percent over a recent 14-year span, with young adults -- and young women in particular -- accounting for much of that surge, a new study shows. The number of 30 to 39 year-olds hospitalized for diabetes more than doubled between 1993 and 2006. Young women in that age bracket and also those aged 20 to 29 were 1.3 times more likely than men to need hospital care for diabetes.

Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, researchers looked at hospitalization data that included diabetes as a primary or secondary diagnosis during that time period. The hospitalizations were assumed to be diabetes-related. For instance, diabetics are more likely to get infections, so they might be hospitalized for pneumonia. Pregnancy often triggers diabetes in women, but their higher hospitalization rate continued even after excluding pregnancy-related hospitalizations. But after 50, men were more likely to be hospitalized. The research was published in the Journal of Women's Health.

Because high blood pressure is such a serious health problem for black patients, the International Society on Hypertension in Blacks (ISHIB) is calling for earlier and more aggressive intervention for the black community. High blood pressure tends to cause serious complications such as stroke, heart failure and kidney damage much more often among black patients than among whites. ISHIB issued a consensus statement with two main updates to its earlier recommendations: lowering the threshold at which black patients would start treatment, and moving rapidly from a single-drug therapy to a multi-drug therapy if necessary.

For U.S. adults, blood pressure is considered normal when it is below 120/80. ISHIB suggests health providers should counsel healthy black patients to make lifestyle changes as soon as their blood pressure is 115/75 or higher. Such changes would include lowering salt intake, upping potassium intake by eating more fruits and vegetables, drinking in moderation, getting more aerobic exercise and losing weight if necessary.