Background: There is strong biologic plausibility to support change in albuminuria as a surrogate endpoint for progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD), but empirical evidence to supports its validity in epidemiologic studies is lacking. Methods: We analyzed 28 cohorts including 693,816 individuals (80% with diabetes) and 7,461 end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) events, defined as initiation of kidney replacement therapy. Percent change in albuminuria was quantified during a baseline period of 1, 2 and 3 years using linear regression. Associations with subsequent ESKD were quantified using Cox regression in Coresh et al.

There is a marked racial disparity in the treatment of patients with PAOD that may be caused in part by differences in the severity of disease or disease distribution.

Aims To systematically investigate the effect of interventions to overcome therapeutic inertia on glycaemic control in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Materials and Methods We electronically searched for randomized controlled trials or quasi‐experimental studies published between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2019 evaluating the effect of interventions on glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) control. Characteristics of included studies and HbA1c difference between intervention and control arms (main outcome) were extracted. Interventions were grouped as: care management and patient education; nurse or certified diabetes educator (CDE); pharmacist; or physician‐based. Results Thirty‐six studies including 22 243 individuals were combined in nonlinear random‐effects meta‐regressions; the median (range) duration of intervention was 1 year (0.9 to 36 months). Compared to the control arm, HbA1c reduction ranged from: −17.7 mmol/mol (−1.62%) to −4.4 mmol/mol (−0.40%) for nurse‐ or CDE‐based interventions; −13.1 mmol/mol (−1.20%) to 3.3 mmol/mol (0.30%) for care management and patient education interventions; −9.8 mmol/mol (−0.90%) to −6.6 mmol/mol (−0.60%) for pharmacist‐based interventions; and −4.4 mmol/mol (−0.40%) to 2.8 mmol/mol (0.26%) for physician‐based interventions. Across the included studies, a reduction in HbA1c was observed only during the first year (6 months: −4.2 mmol/mol, 95% confidence interval [CI] −6.2, −2.2 [−0.38%, 95% CI −0.56, −0.20]; 1 year: −1.6 mmol/mol, 95% CI −3.3, 0.1 [−0.15%, 95% CI −0.30, 0.01]) and in individuals with preintervention HbA1c >75 mmol/mol (9%). Conclusions The most effective approaches to mitigating therapeutic inertia and improving HbA1c were those that empower nonphysician providers such as pharmacists, nurses and diabetes educators to initiate and intensify treatment independently, supported by appropriate guidelines.

Research has shown that getting to glycemic targets early on leads to better outcomes in people with type 2 diabetes; yet, there has been no improvement in the attainment of A1C targets in the past decade. One reason is therapeutic inertia: the lack of timely adjustment to the treatment regimen when a person’s therapeutic targets are not met. This article describes the scope and priorities of the American Diabetes Association’s 3-year Overcoming Therapeutic Inertia Initiative. Its planned activities include publishing a systematic review and meta-analysis of approaches to reducing therapeutic inertia, developing a registry of effective strategies, launching clinician awareness and education campaigns, leveraging electronic health record and clinical decision-support tools, influencing payer policies, and potentially executing pragmatic research to test promising interventions.

Clinical guidelines for people with diabetes recommend chronic kidney disease (CKD) testing at least annually using estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR). We aimed to understand CKD testing among people with type 2 diabetes in the U.S. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSElectronic health record data were analyzed from 513,165 adults with type 2 diabetes receiving primary care from 24 health care organizations and 1,164 clinical practice sites. We assessed the percentage of patients with both one or more eGFRs and one or more uACRs and each test individually in the 1, 2, and 3 years ending September 2019 by health care organization and clinical practice site. Elevated albuminuria was defined as uACR $30 mg/g. RESULTSThe 1-year median testing rate across organizations was 51.6% for both uACR and eGFR, 89.5% for eGFR, and 52.9% for uACR. uACR testing varied (10th-90th percentile) from 44.7 to 63.3% across organizations and from 13.3 to 75.4% across sites. Over 3 years, the median testing rate for uACR across organizations was 73.7%. Overall, the prevalence of detected elevated albuminuria was 15%. The average prevalence of detected elevated albuminuria increased linearly with uACR testing rates at sites, with estimated prevalence of 6%,15%, and 30% at uACR testing rates of 20%,50%, and 100%, respectively. CONCLUSIONSWhile eGFR testing rates are uniformly high among people with type 2 diabetes, testing rates for uACR are suboptimal and highly variable across and within the organizations examined. Guideline-recommended uACR testing should increase detection of CKD.In the U.S., one in nine adults have type 2 diabetes (1,2), and one-third of those also have chronic kidney disease (CKD), defined as decreased glomerular filtration rate (GFR) or elevated albuminuria (3-5). Most people with CKD are unaware of their condition (6,7), and, to improve identification, clinical guidelines recommend testing high-risk patients with estimated GFR (eGFR) from serum creatinine and urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR) (8-10).