Our research is transforming kidney health in Canada.

Can-SOLVE CKD is one of five chronic disease networks supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) through Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR).  

Our work is grounded in equity, inclusion, and reconciliation. In partnership with patients, caregivers, researchers, and care providers, we are co-developing research that reflects the lived experiences and priorities of people affected by chronic kidney disease (CKD).  

With guidance from our Patient Governance Council and Indigenous Peoples’ Engagement and Research Council, we embed patient and community leadership across every stage of the research process. And through robust knowledge translation, we are ensuring that what we learn is shared, applied, and sustained—leading to better kidney health for all.

Advancing Black kidney health through community partnership

A new way for kids with kidney disease to be heard

Helping patients weigh benefits and risks: My Heart and CKD moves into clinics

My Kidneys My Health: A patient-led approach to better kidney care

Co-developed by researchers and patient partners, My Kidneys My Health is transforming kidney care by making reliable, tailored information accessible to everyone.

Building a smoother, more accessible path to living kidney donation

Phase 2 Research

Now in Phase 2, the Can-SOLVE CKD Network is advancing nine research projects focused on creating real-world impact—from new tools and knowledge to evidence-informed changes in care.  

Guided by patient priorities, these projects reflect the needs of diverse populations—including children, hemodialysis patients, and rural and remote First Nations communities with limited access to screening and care. Learn more about these projects and how they are helping to drive meaningful improvements in kidney care.

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

Themes: Heart Disease, Decision Aids  

APPROACH helps kidney patients and care providers make informed decisions about cardiovascular procedures based on personalized risk assessments.

iCARE: eGFR knowledge mobilization strategy

Themes: Diabetes, Indigenous Health, Pediatrics 

The iCARE eGFR tool helps care teams better monitor kidney health in Indigenous youth with type 2 diabetes to help prevent kidney failure in adulthood.

Kidney Check: Integrated community-based care for CKD and risk factors in remote and Indigenous communities

Themes: Indigenous Health, Screening 

Kidney Check provides culturally safe kidney health screening in rural and remote First Nations communities with the aim of preventing or delaying disease progression.

Living Donor Kidney Transplantation

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Theme: Transplantation 

The Living Donor Kidney Transplantation project develops solutions and raises awareness to overcome barriers to living kidney donation.

Mind the Gap: Addressing mental health care gaps for Canadians receiving facility-based hemodialysis 

Themes: Hemodialysis, Mental Health

Mind the Gap focuses on developing individualized, accessible, and culturally sensitive solutions to address mental health care for those receiving hemodialysis.

Self-Management: Adapting an eHealth intervention, My Kidneys My Health, to meet the needs of diverse populations with CKD in Canada

Theme: Self-management 

The Self-Management project is enhancing an interactive website—My Kidneys My Health—to support self-management of CKD for diverse populations.

Development of a Patient-Reported Outcome Measure for Children with Chronic Kidney Disease (PRO-Kid) 

Themes: Pediatrics, Symptom Management 

PRO-Kid is developing and testing a tool to measure, track, and better communicate symptoms in children with CKD.

CKD Safety Net: Designing and implementing a safety net surveillance program for high-risk CKD

Theme: Kidney Failure 

CKD Safety Net is launching a trial to expand use of a proven tool that identifies people at risk of kidney failure and supports earlier, personalized care.

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

Themes: Hemodialysis, Deprescribing 

STOP Med-HD has developed and is now implementing deprescribing guidelines to help care providers safely reduce the pill burden of patients on hemodialysis.

Phase 1 Research

In Phase 1, more than 20 patient-identified research projects laid the foundation for better kidney health care in Canada. Focused on early diagnosis, improved treatments, and patient-centred care, these projects generated new tools, evidence, and partnerships—driving lasting change and demonstrating the power of collaboration between patients, researchers, and care providers. 

Theme 1

Identifying kidney disease earlier

  • iCARE: eGFR knowledge mobilization strategy

    Indigenous Health, Diabetes, Pediatrics

    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: Integrated community-based care for CKD and risk factors in remote and Indigenous communities

    Indigenous Health, Screening

    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.

  • 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.

  • CKD Safety Net (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

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

    Heart Disease, Decision-Aids

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

  • 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.

  • Development of a Patient-Reported Outcome Measure for Children with Chronic Kidney Disease (PRO-Kid)

    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

    Hemodialysis, 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.

  • Self-Management: 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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