Title
Outcomes of early versus late nephrology referral in chronic kidney disease: A systematic review
Date of this Version
11-1-2011
Document Type
Journal Article
ISSN
0002-9343
Abstract
Background: As late provision of specialist care, before starting dialysis therapy, is believed to be associated with increased morbidity and mortality, a systematic review was undertaken to evaluate clinical outcomes relating to early versus late referral of patients to nephrology services.
Methods: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, and EMBASE were searched up until September 2008 for studies of early versus late nephrology referral in adult (>18 years) patients with chronic kidney disease. Early referral was defined by the time period at which patients were referred to a nephrologist.
Findings: No randomized controlled trials were found. Twenty-seven longitudinal cohort studies were included in the final review, providing data on 17,646 participants; 11,734 were referred early and 5912 (33%) referred late. Comparative mortality was higher in patients referred to a specialist late versus those referred early. Odds ratios (OR) for mortality reductions in patients referred early were evident at 3 months (OR 0.51; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.44-0.59) and remained at 5 years (OR 0.45; 95% CI, 0.38-0.53), both P
Conclusion: Our analyses show reduced mortality and hospitalization, better uptake of peritoneal dialysis, and earlier placement of arteriovenous fistula for hemodialysis with early nephrology referral.
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Publication Details
Citation only
Smart, N. A., & Titus, T. T. (2011). Outcomes of early versus late nephrology referral in chronic kidney disease: A systematic review. American Journal of Medicine, 124 (11), 1073-1080.e2.
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2011 HERDC submission. FoR code: 11000
© Copyright Crown, 2011. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.