Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) recently announced its new 2021 guideline. Learn more about the changes that were made to help practitioners prevent or manage patients with kidney disease.* 

What is KDIGO?

KDIGO is an independent, volunteer-led, self-managed charity that serves the kidney disease population through:

• Creating evidence-based guidelines and clinical-practice recommendations
• Convening conferences to discuss and debate nephrology-related issues not fully resolved
• Implementing education activities at events like summits, tours, and roundtables

What Changes Were Made to the KDIGO Guideline?

The 2021 guideline has been updated to provide a more extensive review of glomerular diseases. It is organized into 11 chapters, which include:

1. General principles for the management of glomerular diseases
2. Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN)/Immunoglobulin A vasculitis (IgAV)
3. Membranous nephropathy
4. Nephrotic syndrome in children
5. Minimal change disease (MGD) in adults
6. Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) in adults
7. Infection-related glomerulonephritis
8. Immunoglobulin- and complement-mediated glomerular diseases with a membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) pattern of injury
9. Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)- associated vasculitis
10. Lupus nephritis
11. Anti-glomerular basement membrane (Anti-GBM) antibody glomerulonephritis

How Does KDIGO Decide the Updates?

The updates follow an extensive process whereby recommendations are based on: 

• Systematic reviews of relevant studies 
• Appraisal of the quality of the evidence
• Strength of the recommendations follows the “Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation” (GRADE) approach. 

Why Is the Guideline Beneficial to Clinicians?

These extensive recommendations and practice points cover a wide range of subject matter, including areas where there are gaps in knowledge. 

“We are thrilled to share this guideline with the global nephrology and general medical communities,” said Dr. Brad Rovin, co-chair of the guideline. “Glomerular diseases, excluding diabetic nephropathy, account for about 25% of the cases of CKD worldwide. Given the magnitude of long-term morbidity from glomerular diseases and their frequent manifestation in younger patients, this guideline is critical to helping clinicians diagnose efficiently, and optimize management to control disease and prevent progressive kidney disease.”

Visit the KDIGO Glomerular Diseases Guideline website to learn more.

*KDIGO Announces Publication of 2021 Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Glomerular Diseases – KDIGO. (2021, September 21). KDIGO – KIDNEY DISEASE | IMPROVING GLOBAL OUTCOMES. https://kdigo.org/kdigo-announces-publication-of-2021-clinical-practice-guideline-for-the-management-of-glomerular-diseases/