Urgent-start dialysis in patients referred early to a nephrologist—the CKD-REIN prospective cohort study

Abstract Background The lack of a well-designed prospective study of the determinants of urgent dialysis start led us to investigate its individual- and provider-related factors in patients seeing nephrologists. Methods The Chronic Kidney Disease Renal Epidemiology and Information Network (CKD-REIN) is a prospective cohort study that included 3033 patients with CKD [mean age 67 years, 65% men, mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) 32 mL/min/1.73 m2] from 40 nationally representative nephrology clinics from 2013 to 2016 who were followed annually through 2020. Urgent-start dialysis was defined as that ‘initiated imminently or 10 drugs; 2.14 (95% CI 1.17–3.90)], but not with age or lower eGFR at initiation. They were lower in patients with planned dialysis modality [0.46 (95% CI 0.19–1.10)] and more nephrologist visits in the 12 months before dialysis [0.81 (95% CI 0.70–0.94)] for each visit. Conclusions This study highlights several patient- and provider-level factors that are important to address to reduce the burden of urgent-start dialysis. Graphical Abstract