Research Updates in Chronic Kidney Disease

Dear Colleagues,

The global rise in the number of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and consequent end-stage renal disease (ESRD) necessitating renal replacement therapy is threatening to reach epidemic proportions over the next decade, and only a small number of countries have robust economies able to meet the challenges posed. New epidemiologic evidence points to an even more alarming issue: the rising prevalence of mild-to-moderate renal dysfunction in the general population, especially among hypertensive, diabetic, and obese patients. This condition is about 100 times more common than ESRD, and even if it does not necessarily progress to ESRD, it contributes significantly to increasing cardiovascular risk.

In fact, while it is well known that cardiovascular complications represent the main cause of death in patients with ESRD, with a prevalence of 10 to 30 times higher for the age group between 25 and 75 years, it has been shown that the risk in developing these cardiovascular complications increases even in the presence of early renal abnormalities and tends to grow with the progress of kidney disease. This condition involves a large proportion of the population and therefore carries important social and financial implications that are likely to increase in the near future.

A change in the global approach to CKD, from the treatment of ESRD to much more aggressive primary and secondary prevention, is therefore imperative.

This Special Issue will therefore focus on several aspects of CKD, with a particular attention to the mechanisms of its development and progression, noninvasive tools that are useful in the detection of its early manifestations, and to multifactorial therapeutic strategies aimed at reducing CV and renal risk.

Dr. Emilio Nardi
Dr. Giuseppe Mulè
Guest Editors

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