Nephrology News

• Even Low Lead Levels in Drinking Water Tied to Worse Kidney Disease Outcomes Kidney disease patients may have lower hemoglobin levels and take higher doses of medication to treat anemia when they're exposed to lead in their drinking water, a new study suggests.
  Reuters Health Information, July 23, 2021
• ARBs Equal ACE Inhibitors for Hypertension, but Better Tolerated Although ACE inhibitors are more commonly prescribed, new findings from almost 3 million patients support starting with ARBs as first-time treatment for hypertension.
  Medscape Medical News, July 26, 2021
• Dapagliflozin Safe, Protective in Advanced Kidney Disease 'For clinicians, this is now the absolute reassurance that we do not have to stop an SGLT2 inhibitor' in patients with advanced kidney disease, said Dr Chantal Mathieu, about the DAPA-CKD trial.
  Medscape Medical News, July 23, 2021
• 'Gold Standard' Study Confirms COVID mRNA Vaccines Prevent Infection The national study included more than 54,000 patients in the VA system, particularly important because that population has a large percentage of older patients with substantial comorbidities.
  Medscape Medical News, July 21, 2021
• Minorities Less Likely to Receive Specialist Care People of color are less likely than White patients to receive care from surgical specialists, medical specialists, and pulmonary specialists, a new US study suggests.
  Reuters Health Information, July 19, 2021
• 'New' Natriuretic Peptide Shows Unique Biomarker Potential With at least one practical advantage over other natriuretic peptide biomarkers, CNP is being explored as a predictor of cardiac and renal risk and as a treatment target.
  Medscape Medical News, July 21, 2021
• Building a Better Predictive Model for Progression to Kidney Failure A new risk equation can accurately estimate the risk of chronic kidney disease progressing to end-stage kidney disease, the development team from France and Germany reports.
  Reuters Health Information, July 20, 2021
• AHA Concerned, Others Pleased by Price Transparency Penalty Hike CMS intends to raise the stakes to compel compliance with a mandate for disclosure of hospital prices, with a proposed annual penalty of as much as $2 million for larger organizations.
  Medscape Medical News, July 20, 2021
• Physicians Turning to Side Gigs for Extra Pay Nearly 4 in 10 doctors currently pursue another source of income in addition to medicine. A new survey explores what they are doing, how much they earn, and why they do it.
  Medscape Medical News, July 19, 2021
• High Medicaid Claims Denial Affecting Doc Participation: Study Physicians are less likely to take Medicaid patients in states where they lose a higher portion of potential revenue because of denials and billing costs.
  Medscape Medical News, July 19, 2021
• Nephrologist's Appeal to End 3-Year Suspension Is Denied Allegations include that Albert Kadri, MD, failed to comply with a new model of kidney care at Windsor Regional Hospital, in Ontario, Canada, and his actions were 'likely to expose patients to harm.'
  Medscape Medical News, July 19, 2021
• FDA Panel Rejects Roxadustat for Anemia in Kidney Disease An FDA advisory committee voted by 1-13 and 2-12 margins against approving a novel, oral agent, roxadustat, for treating anemia in patients with chronic kidney disease. Safety was the major issue.
  Medscape Medical News, July 16, 2021
• Intensive BP-Lowering for Brain Bleeds Potentially Deadly in CKD Intensive blood-pressure reduction as treatment for intracranial hemorrhage is linked to a significant risk for death or disability in patients with impaired kidney function.
  Medscape Medical News, July 15, 2021
• EAU 2021 Urine Test Differentiates Kidney Cancer From Benign Lesions For patients with kidney lesions, urine tests under development can differentiate renal cell cancer from benign masses, say investigators.
  Medscape Medical News, July 15, 2021
• Hospital: Patient Gets Kidney Meant for Someone Else Officials at University Hospitals in Cleveland on Monday apologized for the mistake and said two employees have been placed on administrative leave.
  Associated Press, July 15, 2021
• Medicare Proposes Direct Payments to PAs, Telehealth Expansion The draft physician fee schedule for 2022 also proposes changes for E/M services and seeks to tie performance payments for a diabetes prevention program to achievement of goals such as weight loss.
  Medscape Medical News, July 14, 2021
• Latest FDA Pembrolizumab Approval Expands Label to Cutaneous SCCs The objective response rate with treatment in a cohort of 54 patients with locally advanced disease was 50%.
  FDA Approvals, July 13, 2021
• ADA 2021 New Agents for Youth-Onset Type 2 Diabetes 'Finally in Sight' 'A number of clinical trials of antidiabetic pharmacologic agents in diabetic youth have been completed, demonstrating safety and efficacy, and a wider availability of agents is finally in sight,' said an expert.
  Medscape Medical News, July 13, 2021
• Iron Therapy May Help More Patients With Kidney Disease Treating iron deficiency in patients with chronic kidney disease but without anemia may reduce their risk of death, particularly from cardiovascular causes, new research hints.
  Medscape Medical News, July 12, 2021
• FDA Approves Finerenone for Slowing CKD in Type 2 Diabetes
  FDA Approvals, July 12, 2021