Perception of Spanish nephrologists on an old unsolved problem: Pruritus associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD-aP).

Introduction: Pruritus associated with chronic kidney disease is defined as the sensation of itching, in people with chronic kidney disease, in a one area or all over the body that causes the need to scratch, after having ruled out other dermatological or systemic causes. It is an old and known problem whose prevalence has been able to decrease with the improvement of dialytic techniques but which still persists and is underdiagnosed.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to analyse the current perception of nephrologists about this problem that influences the quality of life of people with chronic kidney disease through a survey.

The search for a new marker of renal function in older patients with chronic kidney disease stages 3-4: usefulness of cystatin C-based equations.

Background/aim: Cystatin C (Cys C) is an endogenous marker of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) unaffected by body composition. The aim of the present study was to assess the utility of Cys C-based GFR prediction equations (Hoek, Larsson and Stevens) and creatinine (modification of diet in renal disease-isotope dilution mass spectrometry--MDRD-IDMS, and Cockcroft-Gault--CG) compared with 51Cr-EDTA.

Methods: This study was carried out in 40 Caucasian older patients with advanced age (> or = 60) and chronic kidney disease stages 3-4.