Comprehensive Dialysis Study

The Comprehensive Dialysis Study (CDS) is a special data collection study in which physical activity, health-related quality of life, and work/disability data were requested from patients identified as initiating maintenance dialysis during 2005 to 2007. The CDS study aimed to understand factors contributing to physical, functional, and nutritional health status among patients starting dialysis. The study was coordinated in part by the United States Renal Data System (USRDS), which maintains an extensive database that facilitates biomedical and economic research on end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in the U.S. population. In a subset of participants, dietary intake and nutritional status were also evaluated. The study represents one of few cohorts in which laboratory proxies of nutrition and inflammatory status were measured simultaneously. The study successfully gathered information and samples from participants and generated baseline characteristics for patients undergoing maintenance dialysis. Information reported by CDS participants was linked with patient-specific modality history, mortality, hospitalization, and cost information in USRDS files.