Research Presented by Fresenius Medical Care North America at Kidney Week 2021 Demonstrates Commitment to Improving Dialysis Care

Research Presented by Fresenius Medical Care North America at Kidney Week 2021 Demonstrates Commitment to Improving Dialysis Care

40 Affiliated Abstracts Available at American Society of Nephrology’s Virtual Conference

WALTHAM, Mass. – Nov. 4, 2021 – Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA), the nation’s leading provider of kidney care products and services, today announced the presentation of 40 company-affiliated abstracts at the American Society of Nephrology’s (ASN) Kidney Week 2021, which runs virtually from Nov. 4-7. These publications include insights related to the use of artificial intelligence to advance care, maintaining patients on home therapies, COVID-19’s impact on patients with kidney failure and vaccine response, as well as other clinical research experiences and advancements.

The research includes a virtual oral presentation of the abstract “Fluid-Related Risk Factors of Peritoneal Dialysis Technique Failure” which evaluated deidentified data from more than 16,000 new peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients at Fresenius Kidney Care centers in order to determine specific associations between fluid-related clinical factors and technique failure.

“The depth of scientific works presented demonstrates our ongoing commitment across the company to generate new insights that can improve care delivery and patient outcomes,” said Dr. Robert Kossmann, Chief Medical Officer for FMCNA. “Our focus on research and data analytics has helped us address the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, while also examining innovations that can have a positive impact for people living with kidney failure.”

The annual symposium, held virtually again in 2021, is one of the most significant gatherings of kidney professionals in the world. Some of the other abstracts being presented by Fresenius Medical Care, and now available online as part of ASN’s Kidney Week 2021, include:

• Machine Learning-Driven Prediction of Peritoneal Dialysis Technique Failure. Two machine learning models were built and showed good discrimination between patient risk categories for both short- and long-term timeframes. These tools may offer the potential to improve care for “failing” PD patients and reduce modality transitions.
• Smartphone Application to Assist Peritoneal Dialysis Patients for Timely Detection of Peritonitis. Timely detection of peritonitis in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis is critical to lower the risk of catheter loss, morbidity, and mortality. A smartphone app was developed that can distinguish peritonitis from normal peritoneal dialysis effluent samples.
• Prediction of Severe Gastrointestinal Bleeding Events in Hemodialysis: Collaborative Development of Machine Learning Model Within INSPIRE. INitiativeS on advancing Patients’ outcomes In REnal disease (INSPIRE) is an academia and industry collaboration set forth to identify critical investigations/models needed to advance the practice of nephrology. A machine learning model was constructed, and it appears to have suitable performance for identifying a patient’s 30-day risk for GI bleed hospitalization.
• SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Dynamics in Chronic Hemodialysis Patients. As data on the persistence of COVID-19 antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 in hemodialysis patients from the U.S. is still scarce and an association with race and ethnicity is unknown, this abstract explores antibody dynamics in maintenance hemodialysis patients from three U.S. states with a diverse racial and ethnic background.
• Fewer ESKD Dialysis Patients Reach Antibody Levels (AB) Consistent with Neutralizing Titers When Vaccinated with Ad26.COV2.S Compared with mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines. This abstract presents data suggesting available viral vector based vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 virus may not be as effective in producing AB response in dialysis patients when compared to available mRNA vaccines.
• Serum Phosphorus (sP) and Pill Burden Among Hemodialysis (HD) Patients Prescribed Sucroferric Oxyhydroxide (SO): One-Year Follow-Up on a Contemporary Cohort. Despite different patient characteristics and treatment patterns in the 2014 and 2018 cohorts, HD patients from both cohorts had improvements in sP with fewer pills/day after SO conversion.

About Fresenius Medical Care North America 
Fresenius Medical Care North America (FMCNA) is the premier healthcare company focused on providing the highest quality care to people with renal and other chronic conditions. Through its industry-leading network of dialysis facilities and outpatient cardiac and vascular labs, Fresenius Medical Care North America provides coordinated healthcare services at pivotal care points for hundreds of thousands of chronically ill customers throughout the continent. As the world’s largest fully integrated renal company, it offers specialty pharmacy and laboratory services, and manufactures and distributes the most comprehensive line of dialysis equipment, disposable products, and renal pharmaceuticals. For more information, visit the FMCNA website at https://fmcna.com/.