GRAPEVINE, Tex.—Higher levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25 (OH) D) may lower the risk of anemia and elevated C-reactive protein levels may raise the risk, according to new study findings that may explain much of the high prevalence of anemia among individuals with kidney disease, researchers conclude.

AMAG Pharmaceuticals, Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., has announced that the FDA has accepted for standard review its New Drug Application (NDA) for ferumoxytol as an IV treatment of iron deficiency anemia in CKD patients.

UNIVERSAL ACCESS to health care might help to overcome racial and ethnic barriers to treatment for kidney disease, according to two studies.

THE PREVALENCE of CKD among adults in Beijing, China is 13%, according to a recent study published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases (2008;51:373-384).

AT PRESENT, almost one fourth of stage 5 CKD patients experience a life-threatening episode of hyperkalemia requiring emergency treatment, according to data cited in a recent article in Seminars in Dialysis (2007;20:431-439). The authors, Nirupama Putcha, MD, and Michael Allon, MD, note that although "many options have been proposed for the prevention of interdialytic hyperkalemia...prevention currently rests largely upon compliance with diet and a thoughtful use of medication regimens."

GRAPEVINE, Tex.—Patients with the metabolic syndrome and decreased estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) are at increased risk of having peripheral arterial disease (PAD), a study shows.

Advanced kidney dysfunction independently predicts sudden cardiac death among women with coronary heart disease (CHD), according to researchers.

MEN WITH CKD stage 4 have an elevated risk of hip fracture comparable to that of men on dialysis, data show.

SAN FRANCISCO - African Americans receive worse care for renal disease compared with whites, and the reason may be related, in part, to a lack of trust in the health care system and inadequate appreciation of African Americans' elevated risk of CKD, according to Neil Powe, MD, MPH, professor of medicine, epidemiology, and health policy management and director of the Welch Center at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore.

Thailand has a "remarkably high" prevalence of CKD among individuals aged 35 years and older, according to Thai and Australian researchers.