Children of a lesser god: exclusion of chronic kidney disease patients from clinical trials

Zoccali, Carmine; Blankestijn, Peter J; Bruchfeld, Annette; Capasso, Giovambattista; Fliser, Danilo; Fouque, Denis; Goumenos, Dimitrios; Ketteler, Markus; Massy, Ziad; Rychlık, Ivan; Jose Soler, Maria; Stevens, Kate; Spasovski, Goce; Wanner, Christoph

doi:10.1093/ndt/gfz023

Children of a lesser god: exclusion of chronic kidney disease patients from clinical trials

Journal

Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation

Date Issued

2019

Author(s)

Zoccali, Carmine

Blankestijn, Peter J

Bruchfeld, Annette

Capasso, Giovambattista

Fliser, Danilo

Fouque, Denis

Goumenos, Dimitrios

Ketteler, Markus

Massy, Ziad

Rychlık, Ivan

Jose Soler, Maria

Stevens, Kate

Wanner, Christoph

DOI

10.1093/ndt/gfz023

Abstract

The exclusion of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients from clinical trials-particularly cardiovascular trials-remains a long-standing, unsolved problem, which prevents the optimization of clinical care in these patients. The situation recalls the insufficient recruitment of women in cardiovascular trials until the 1980s, a problem that was only resolved following regulatory interventions. Regulatory agencies are in a unique position to promote recruitment of CKD patients in clinical trials. The main stakeholders, namely patients' associations and scientific societies, should make major lobbying efforts to persuade these agencies that the issue is an absolute public health priority.