Renal Consult is edited by Jane S. Davis, CRNP, DNP, a member of the Clinician Reviews editorial board, who is a nurse practitioner in the Division of Nephrology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is the communications chairperson for the National Kidney Foundation’s Council of Advanced Practitioners (NKF-CAP); and Kim Zuber, PA-C, MSPS, DFAAPA, a semi-retired PA who works with the American Academy of Nephrology PAs and is a past chair of the NKF-CAP. This month’s responses were authored by Zorica Kauric-Klein, APRN-BC, PhD, who is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the College of Nursing at Wayne State University in Detroit, and Rebecca Clawson, MAT, PA-C, who is an Instructor in the PA Program at LSU Health Shreveport in Louisiana.
Overall, we can conclude that bariatric surgery has merit as an option to prevent and/or slow progression of early-stage CKD in severely obese patients. Larger, long-term studies are needed to analyze the duration of these effects on kidney outcomes, including the development of end-stage kidney disease. And additional research is needed to determine the risks and benefits associated with bariatric surgery in this population. —ZK-K
Zorica Kauric-Klein, APRN-BC, PhD Assistant Clinical Professor, College of Nursing, Wayne State University, Detroit