Improving the identification of acute kidney injury in the neonatal ICU: three centers’ experiences

OBJECTIVE: To describe three different standardized approaches to improving neonatal acute kidney injury (AKI) identification and the impact on AKI identification, incidence, and nephrology consultation and referral. STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective cohort study in three academic NICUs. We compared AKI identification, AKI incidence, nephrology consultation, and nephrology follow-up before and after implantation of local protocols to standardize neonatal AKI identification. RESULT: Neonatal AKI identification improved in all three NICUs following protocol implementation (26-85%, P < 0.0001). Each center also saw increases in nephrology consultation (15-83%, P < 0.0001) and nephrology follow-up (7-73%, P < 0.0001). AKI incidence decreased significantly (21-12%, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Multiple strategies can be successfully operationalized to improve neonatal AKI identification. While different in approach, each strategy resulted in increased AKI identification and nephrology involvement. This study emphasizes the importance of local standardized approaches to AKI to improve AKI identification and nephrology involvement in the NICU

Survey of Telemedicine by Pediatric Nephrologists During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction: The slow increase in use of telemedicine began to expand rapidly, along with reimbursement changes, during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Standardized protocols for these services are lacking but are needed for effective and equitable health care. In this study, we queried pediatric nephrologists and their patients about their telemedicine experiences during the pandemic. Methods: Surveys that were in compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act were deployed online to patients and physicians. Results: We collected survey responses from 400 patients and 197 pediatric nephrologists. Patients reported positive experiences with telemedicine visits as it was logistically easier than in-person visits. Patients also felt that the quality of their visits were equivalent to what they would receive in person. Physicians used a wide variety of online systems to conduct synchronous telemedicine with Zoom (23%), EPIC (9%), Doxy.me (7%), services not specified (37%), or a mix of local or smaller services (24%). Most physicians\u27 concerns were related to technological issues and the ability to procure physical exams and/or laboratory results. Conclusions: There is a paucity of published trials on telemedicine services in pediatric nephrology. Virtual care was feasible and acceptable for patients, caregivers, and providers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Telemedicine for Pediatric Nephrology: Perspectives on COVID-19, Future Practices, and Work Flow Changes

Although the use of telemedicine in rural areas has increased steadily over the years, its use was rapidly implemented during the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. Due to this rapid implementation, there is a lack of standardized work flows to assess and treat for various nephrotic conditions, symptoms, treatment modalities, and transition processes in the pediatric population. To provide a foundation/suggestion for future standardized work flows, the authors of this report have developed standardized work flows using the Delphi method. These work flows were informed based on results from cross-sectional surveys directed to patients and providers. Most patients and providers were satisfied, 87% and 71%, respectively, with their telemedicine visits. Common issues that were raised with the use of telemedicine included difficulty procuring physical laboratory results and a lack of personal warmth during telemedicine visits. The work flows created based on these suggestions will both enhance safety in treating patients and allow for the best possible care

Renal Survival in Children with Glomerulonephritis with Crescents: A Pediatric Nephrology Research Consortium Cohort Study

There is no evidence-based definition for diagnosing crescentic glomerulonephritis. The prognostic implications of crescentic lesions on kidney biopsy have not been quantified. Our objective was to determine risk factors for end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) in patients with glomerulonephritis and crescents on kidney biopsy. A query of the Pediatric Nephrology Research Consortium’s Pediatric Glomerulonephritis with Crescents registry identified 305 patients from 15 centers. A retrospective cohort study was performed with ESKD as the primary outcome. Median age at biopsy was 11 years (range 1–21). The percentage of crescents was 3–100% (median 20%). Etiologies included IgA nephropathy (23%), lupus (21%), IgA vasculitis (19%) and ANCA-associated GN (13%), post-infectious GN (5%), and anti-glomerular basement membrane disease (3%). The prevalence of ESKD was 12% at one year and 16% at last follow-up (median = 3 years, range 1–11). Median time to ESKD was 100 days. Risk factors for ESKD included %crescents, presence of fibrous crescents, estimated GFR, and hypertension at biopsy. For each 1% increase in %crescents, there was a 3% decrease in log odds of 1-year renal survival (p = 0.003) and a 2% decrease in log odds of renal survival at last follow-up (p \u3c 0.001). These findings provide an evidence base for enrollment criteria for crescentic glomerulonephritis in future clinical trials

Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Patterns of Children and Adults With IgA Nephropathy or IgA Vasculitis: Findings From the CureGN Study

Introduction: The Cure Glomerulonephropathy Network (CureGN) is a 66-center longitudinal observational study of patients with biopsy-confirmed minimal change disease, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, membranous nephropathy, or IgA nephropathy (IgAN), including IgA vasculitis (IgAV). This study describes the clinical characteristics and treatment patterns in the IgA cohort, including comparisons between IgAN versus IgAV and adult versus pediatric patients. Methods: Patients with a diagnostic kidney biopsy within 5 years of screening were eligible to join CureGN. This is a descriptive analysis of clinical and treatment data collected at the time of enrollment. Results: A total of 667 patients (506 IgAN, 161 IgAV) constitute the IgAN/IgAV cohort (382 adults, 285 children). At biopsy, those with IgAV were younger (13.0 years vs. 29.6 years, P < 0.001), more frequently white (89.7% vs. 78.9%, P = 0.003), had a higher estimated glomerular filtration rate (103.5 vs. 70.6 ml/min per 1.73 m2, P < 0.001), and lower serum albumin (3.4 vs. 3.8 g/dl, P < 0.001) than those with IgAN. Adult and pediatric individuals with IgAV were more likely than those with IgAN to have been treated with immunosuppressive therapy at or prior to enrollment (79.5% vs. 54.0%, P < 0.001). Conclusion: This report highlights clinical differences between IgAV and IgAN and between children and adults with these diagnoses. We identified differences in treatment with immunosuppressive therapies by disease type. This description of baseline characteristics will serve as a foundation for future CureGN studies

Effect of metabolic acidosis on neonatal proximal tubule acidification

The serum bicarbonate in neonates is lower than adults due in large part to a lower rate of proximal tubule acidification. It is unclear if the neonatal proximal tubule is functioning at maximal capacity or if the proximal tubule can respond to metabolic acidosis as has been described in adult proximal tubules. We find that neonatal mouse brush-border membranes have a lower Na+/H+ exchanger (NHE) 3 protein abundance (neonate 0.11 ± 0.05 vs. adult 0.64 ± 0.07; P < 0.05) and a higher NHE8 protein abundance (neonate 1.0 ± 0.01 vs. adult 0.13 ± 0.09; P < 0.001) compared with adults. To examine if neonates can adapt to acidosis, neonatal mice were gavaged with either acid or vehicle for 4 days, resulting in a drop in serum bicarbonate from 19.5 ± 1.0 to 8.9 ± 0.6 meq/l (P < 0.001). Proximal convoluted tubule Na+/H+ exchanger activity (dpHi/dt) was 1.68 ± 0.19 pH units/min in control tubules and 2.49 ± 0.60 pH units/min in acidemic neonatal mice (P < 0.05), indicating that the neonatal proximal tubule can respond to metabolic acidosis with an increase in Na+/H+ exchanger activity. Similarly, brush-border membrane vesicles from neonatal rats had an increase in Na+/H+ exchanger activity with acidemia that was almost totally inhibited by 10−6 M 5-(N-ethyl-n-isopropyl)-amiloride, a dose that has little effect on NHE3 but inhibits NHE8. There was a significant increase in both NHE3 (vehicle 0.35 ± 0.07 vs. acid 0.73 ± 0.07; P < 0.003) and NHE8 brush-border membrane protein abundance (vehicle 0.41 ± 0.05 vs. acid 0.73 ± 0.06; P < 0.001) in acidemic mouse neonates compared with controls. A comparable increase in NHE3 and NHE8 was found in neonatal rats with acidosis. In conclusion, the neonatal proximal tubule can adapt to metabolic acidosis with an increase in Na+/H+ exchanger activity