TY - GEN A1 - Kiel, Simone A1 - Weckmann, Gesine A1 - Chenot, Jean-François A1 - Stracke, Sylvia A1 - Spallek, Jacob A1 - Angelow, Aniela T1 - Referral criteria for chronic kidney disease: implications for disease management and healthcare expenditure—analysis of a population-based sample T2 - BMC Nephrology N2 - Background: Clinical practice guidelines recommend specialist referral according to different criteria. The aim was to assess recommended and observed referral rate and health care expenditure according to recommendations from: • Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO,2012) • National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE,2014) • German Society of Nephrology/German Society of Internal Medicine (DGfN/DGIM,2015) • German College of General Practitioners and Family Physicians (DEGAM,2019) • Kidney failure risk equation (NICE,2021) Methods: Data of the population-based cohort Study of Health in Pomerania were matched with claims data. Proportion of subjects meeting referral criteria and corresponding health care expenditures were calculated and projected to the population of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Results: Data from 1927 subjects were analysed. Overall proportion of subjects meeting referral criteria ranged from 4.9% (DEGAM) to 8.3% (DGfN/DGIM). The majority of patients eligible for referral were ≥ 60 years. In subjects older than 60 years, differences were even more pronounced, and rates ranged from 9.7% (DEGAM) to 16.5% (DGfN/DGIM). Estimated population level costs varied between €1,432,440 (DEGAM) and €2,386,186 (DGfN/DGIM). From 190 patients with eGFR < 60 ml/min, 15 had a risk of end stage renal disease > 5% within the next 5 years. Conclusions: Applying different referral criteria results in different referral rates and costs. Referral rates exceed actually observed consultation rates. Criteria need to be evaluated in terms of available workforce, resources and regarding over- and underutilization of nephrology services. KW - chronic kidney disease KW - disease management KW - healthcare KW - Referral criteria KW - population-based cohort Study Y1 - 2022 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-UBICO/frontdoor/index/index/docId/29029 UR - https://bmcnephrol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12882-022-02845-0#citeas SN - 1471-2369 VL - 23 SP - 1 EP - 11 ER -