About our Programme

Understanding the burden and impact of Chronic kidney Disease

CKD is a common condition that is associated with a significant economic burden across the world1. The prevalence of the disease is rising, owing in part to an increase in the median age of populations worldwide, and the growing number of individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM) or hypertension. When CKD progresses, patients may experience complications such as anaemia, cardiovascular disease (CVD), peripheral arterial disease, pruritus, and increased risk of infection. Both disease progression and its associated complications require medical treatment, which further impacts patients’ quality of life (QoL) and contributes to the humanistic and economic burden of CKD.

Moreover, progression to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) has a significant effect on patients’ daily lives and is often associated with considerable costs due to the common requirement for renal replacement therapy (RRT) via dialysis or kidney transplantation. Therefore, slowing the rate of progression of CKD to advanced stages,in particular to ESRD, is an important medical objective.

The aim of the NKDSS is accurately monitor and improve the delivery, quality and outcomes of care provided to patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) or at risk of kidney disease in the Irish health system

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Annoymised Participants

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Unique Haematology, Serology and Biochemistry tests

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Data Sources

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Hospital Groups

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Prize Winners

Data Providers

Health Service Executive

The Health Service Executive (HSE) provides all of Ireland’s public health services in hospitals and communities across the country.

National Renal Office

The National Renal Office (NRO) provides Governance, Integration and Leadership in developing a National Framework for delivering Renal Services in Ireland. It is embedded within the Clinical Strategies and Programmes Division and links with the Chief Executive Officer of the Hospital Groups as well as the Integrated Services Directorates

Central Statistics Office

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) is Ireland’s national statistical office and it’s purpose is to impartially collect, analyse and make available statistics about Ireland’s people, society and economy.

"Improving awareness of the Kidney disease is important; screening of high risk individuals is also desirable in order to allow earlier detection, the identification of risk factors, and the monitoring of the effectiveness of treatments is crucial. These are all important and our research programme here at the University of Limerick plays a vital role in contributing to these efforts and our understanding of Kidney Disease. ."

Professor Austin Stack Principal Investigator

"The NKDSS linked data has the potential to inform the development of optimal CKD care strategies, generate hypotheses about how to slow disease progression and identify risk factors for adverse outcomes"

Dr Leonard Browne Research Fellow

The overall goal of the National Kidney Disease Surveillance System (NKDSS) and Quality Assurance (QA) Programme is to improve the delivery, quality and outcomes of care provided to patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) or at risk of kidney disease in the Irish health system.

It will allow physicians and health care providers within the Health Services Executive (HSE) to quantify the burden of kidney disease in the population, assess the quality of delivered care and measure outcomes that are benchmarked against national and international standards.

The programme will analyse routinely collected clinical information on patients who are treated in primary care and secondary care settings

There is a lack of information on the epidemiology of CKD in Ireland.

The mission of the NKDSS is :

1.To improve identification of kidney disease in the Irish Health system and across demographic and clinical subgroups.
2.Increase our understanding of the impact of kidney disease on risk of hospitalisation and mortality in the Irish health system.
3.Improve our scientific understanding of the epidemiology of kidney disease, associated complications, and treatments over time.
4.Aid strategic planning, management, policy development, and resource allocation in the Irish health system.
5.Promote and protect the health of individuals and communities

The NKDSS uses a novel combination of deterministic and probabilistic matching to link regional and national datasets in the absence of a unique identifier and generates pseudonymised datasets to address these deficits in knowledge.

This programmes novel approach provides a cost-effective solution for describing the natural history of kidney disease and its clinical consequences in the Irish health system.

It will provide a better understanding of this complex illness and it will help inform national policy on prevention efforts and management practices.