Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
For predicting complications related to chronic kidney disease, endogenous filtration markers such as cystatin C and creatinine perform as well, if not better, than measured glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Measured GFR by clearance of an inert exogenous marker may still be the gold standard measure of GFR, but determining GFR may not answer the right clinical question.
A recent study has reviewed records of patients on thrice-weekly hemodialysis and shown that serious and fatal complications—including overall and cardiac mortality, as well as hospitalization for cardiovascular reasons—are more frequent on the last day of the long interdialytic interval than on other days.
New-onset diabetes mellitus after kidney transplantation (NODAT) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality, as well as poor quality of life. NODAT is likely to become more common in the transplantation setting as patient and graft survival improves. In this Review, Sharif and Baboolal provide specific guidance on diabetes mellitus-related complications in patients who have had renal transplantation.
General severity of illness scores lack high predictive accuracy for mortality in patients with acute kidney injury (AKI). Using the Veterans Affairs/National Institutes of Health Acute Renal Failure Trial Network database, Demirjian et al. identified 21 independent predictors of mortality and developed an accurate scoring system for outcomes in patients with AKI requiring renal replacement therapy.