ASsessment, Serial Evaluation, and Subsequent Sequelae in Acute Kidney Injury (ASSESS AKI)
Acute kidney injury (AKI) refers to a sudden, unexpected decrease in kidney function. This phenomenon has been best studied among hospitalized patients. It is well known that dialysis-requiring AKI is associated with a high risk (>30%) of short-term mortality. The importance of AKI as a clinical and public health problem is underscored by recent studies showing a rising incidence in the U.S. over the past several decades.
The vast majority of published studies on AKI have focused only on clinical outcomes that occur during the index hospitalization complicated by AKI and have been limited by several methodological challenges. Thus, relatively little is known about long-term clinical outcomes among patients who suffer hospital-acquired AKI, including the risk of development and acceleration of chronic kidney disease (CKD), death, cardiovascular events, and other important patient-centered outcomes. The 2005 American Society of Nephrology Renal Research Report listed as a research priority “increased epidemiologic research in acute kidney injury.” The report also listed as one of the “critically important gaps in knowledge” in the field of AKI that “there are no data on long-term outcomes” after an episode of AKI.
In 2010 to address these knowledge gaps, the ASsessment, Serial Evaluation, and Subsequent Sequelae of Acute Kidney Injury (ASSESS AKI) Study was established to examine how changes in kidney function during hospitalization could affect the risk of developing kidney disease and other important health-related outcomes. Since then, this multi-center collaboration has enrolled and is conducting long-term follow-up in a prospective cohort of about 1600 participants with and without AKI. Vanderbilt University Medical Center is the leading recruitment site for the study with more 500 subjects enrolled.