American Society of Nephrology Magazine Features UNC Kidney Center Study

The American Society of Nephrology (ASN)’s magazine publication, Kidney News, recently featured a front-page cover story highlighting an article published by UNC Kidney Center researchers.

This study was led by UNC’s Dr. Mark Foster, a student in the School of Medicine, who collaborated with UNC Kidney Center’s Drs. Ron Falk and Maria Ferris. The article, Personal Disaster Preparedness of Dialysis Patients in North Carolina, was published in the October issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Researchers described dialysis patients as among the most vulnerable patients during a natural or man-made disaster. They found that the general disaster preparedness of most study participants was poor; dialysis patients were found to be poorly prepared to shelter in place or to evacuate in the face of a disaster. However, home peritoneal dialysis patients were more likely to be prepared for a disaster compared with hemodialysis patients. These findings were noted regardless of age, gender, race, education, literacy, and socioeconomic status.

The authors recommended that further education regarding personal and dialysis-specific disaster preparedness is needed.

You can read the story in Kidney News here.

This study was also featured in the US News and World Report, which you can read here.

World Kidney Day is Thursday, March 8. The International Federation of Kidney Foundations and the International Society of Nephrology are behind this global health campaign which focuses on the importance of the kidney and the impact of kidney disease worldwide.

Registration is open for the 7th Annual Kidney Kare 5K Run/Walk. This event will take place on Saturday, March 17 in Carrboro, NC. Click here to sign up at active.com.

The 26th annual meeting of the Glomerular Disease Collaborative Network will take place in Chapel Hill on May 19-20. Registration is open now and you can register here.