Our research aims to improve the lives of people living with kidney disease.

We have created a robust national research program based around three themes that matter most to patients:

  • Identifying kidney disease earlier
  • Developing better treatments
  • Delivering innovative patient-centred care

Our 18 research projects are generating new knowledge and tools that will impact kidney health care for years to come. Can-SOLVE CKD research is already improving living donor kidney transplantation, supporting CKD self-management, and enhancing patient-reported outcome measures in jurisdictions across Canada.

Patients have been central to these accomplishments. In partnership with our Patient Governance Circle, we have created a system by which research is conceived and implemented collaboratively. By working together, our research projects will close the gaps in knowledge and care to deliver better kidney health.

Improving care for kids with kidney disease

The PRO-Kid project is developing a new tool to better assess symptoms in children living with chronic kidney disease.

Breaking down barriers to living kidney donation

The Transplant Ambassador Program is sharing key information about kidney transplantation in renal units across Ontario.

New tool offers self-management support

Can-SOLVE CKD researchers have launched a new website to help patients self-manage dietary needs, mental health, medications, and more.

Finding the right medicine for better kidney health

A Can-SOLVE CKD research project has developed a new tool to help care teams identify unnecessary medications being taken by hemodialysis patients.

Treating kidney disease with precision

Using a “molecular microscope," Can-SOLVE CKD researchers are finding ways to predict which patients are at higher risk of disease progression.

Theme 1

Identifying kidney disease earlier

  • iCARE: Improving renal complications in adolescents with type 2 diabetes through research

    Indigenous Health, Diabetes

    Identifying the most important risk factors for early kidney disease in youth with diabetes

  • AdDIT: Adolescent Type 1 Diabetes Cardio-Renal Intervention Trial

    Diabetes

    An observational cohort of youth with type 1 diabetes assessing both kidney function and cardiovascular function.

  • Kidney Check: Identifying kidney disease and diabetes in Indigenous communities

    Indigenous Health

    Point-of-care screening kidney health screening in rural and remote Indigenous communities

  • Canadian Glomerulonephritis Registry

    Glomerulonephritis

    Developing personalized treatments for patients with GN and identifying new ways of detecting high-risk GN.

  • Defining risk and personalizing treatment of patients with Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease

    ADPKD

    Validating genetic tests for ADPKD and making them less costly, allowing for increased use in clinics.

  • Integrating risk-based care for patients with CKD in the community

    Kidney Failure

    Testing the Kidney Failure Risk Equation via interactive tools in family medicine clinics across Canada.

  • APPROACH: Risk prediction to support shared decision-making for managing heart disease

    Heart Disease

    Developing an information and communication tool to help patients with CKD make decisions about treatments for heart disease.

  • Implementing APPROACH tools to support shared decision-making in the management of heart disease for people with CKD

    Chronic Kidney Disease, Heart Disease

    Implementing a new decision aid called My Heart Care and CKD across Canada and evaluating its use in clinical practice.

  • iCARE eGFR Knowledge Mobilization Strategy

    Indigenous Health, Diabetes

    Implementing the iCARE eGFR tool into diabetes care across the spectrum with messaging that is culturally appropriate for Indigenous peoples.

  • Kidney Check: Integrated Community-based Care for CKD and Risk Factors in Remote and Indigenous Communities

    Indigenous Health

    Improving early CKD risk identification, and supporting people in rural and remote Indigenous communities to access recommended care in their communities.

  • SAFE-CKD: Designing and implementing a safety net surveillance program for high risk CKD

    Kidney Failure

    Scaling up the use of the Kidney Failure Risk Equation into a new provincial kidney disease surveillance system.

Theme 2

Developing better treatments

  • Precision medicine in diabetic kidney disease

    Diabetes

    Using genetic analysis to understand which patients with diabetic kidney disease are at higher risk of disease progression.

  • Clinical trials of promising re-purposed drugs for ADPKD

    ADPKD

    Testing and evaluating re-purposed drugs with the potential to improve outcomes for ADPKD patients.

  • ACHIEVE: Aldosterone inhibition and enhanced toxin removal in hemodialysis patients

    Heart Disease

    Determining if spironolactone reduces heart related deaths and hospitalizations due to heart failure.

  • DISCO: Dialysis Symptom Control

    Restless Legs, Symptom Management

    Determining whether gabapentin, pramipexole, or both should be offered to patients receiving dialysis who suffer from restless legs.

  • Evaluation of sodium deposition in soft tissues of patients with kidney disease and its association with patient symptomatology

    Symptom Management

    Examining the impact of sodium deposition on common symptoms experienced by people with impaired kidney function.

  • EMPATHY: Patient-reported outcomes clustered RCT

    Quality of Life, Symptom Management

    Evaluating the impact of patient-reported outcome measures on clinical outcomes, health care utilization, and patient experience.

  • PRO-Kid: Implementation of a Patient-Reported Outcome Measure into Clinical Pediatric Nephrology Practice

    Symptom Management, Pediatrics

    Validating a new symptom assessment tool at sites across Canada and creating plans to disseminate the tool into clinical practice.

  • Mind the Gap: Addressing Mental Health Care Gaps for Canadians Receiving Facility-Based Hemodialysis

    Hemodialysis, Mental Health

    Addressing the gap in mental health care and support for people receiving hemodialysis.

Theme 3

Delivering innovative patient-centred care

  • Triple I: Restructuring kidney care to meet the needs of 21st century patients

    Dialysis, Kidney Care

    Reinventing kidney care to reflect the needs and capabilities of patients in the 21st century.

  • STOP Med-HD: Strategic optimization of prescription medication use in patients on hemodialysis

    Dialysis, Deprescribing

    Developing tools to reduce the use of unnecessary medications in hemodialysis patients.

  • Strategies to enhance patient self-management of CKD

    Self-Management, Kidney Care

    Empowering patients to self-manage their chronic kidney disease to improve disease progression and overall patient experience.

  • Improving Indigenous patient knowledge about treatment options

    Indigenous Health, Education

    Developing educational approaches for treatment options for failing kidneys specifically for the Indigenous population.

  • Adapting an eHealth intervention, My Kidneys My Health, to Meet the Needs of Diverse Populations with CKD in Canada

    Self-Management

    Adapting a new self-management website (My Kidneys My Health) to support the unique characteristics, preferences, and needs of diverse populations (i.e., Indigenous, gender-diverse, and/or ethnic minority populations) who have non-dialysis kidney disease.

  • STOP-MED HD: Strategic Optimization of Prescription Medication Use in Patients on Hemodialysis (Phase 2)

    Hemodialysis, Deprescribing

    Implementing a new deprescribing tool in hemodialysis clinics across Canada.

  • Living Donor Kidney Transplantation

    Transplantation

    Developing and implementing solutions to help overcome barriers to living kidney donor transplantation.

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