Project Overview

Children living with chronic kidney disease experience symptoms that impact their quality of life and sense of normalcy, yet clinical tools to evaluate and monitor symptoms of chronic kidney disease in children are lacking.

To address this issue, a Can-SOLVE CKD research team created a novel symptom assessment tool for children, called PRO-Kid (Patient-Reported Outcome measure for the assessment of symptom burden in pediatric Chronic Kidney Disease), which they are currently evaluating in children from 8 pediatric centres across Canada. This tool can be used to measure the severity and impact of symptoms that are relevant to patients and families, improve communication with healthcare teams, and meaningfully track symptom progression or improvement.

Along with validating PRO-Kid at sites across Canada, the research team, which includes patient partners and their families, is conducting assessments and creating implementation plans in order to disseminate the tool more widely into clinical practice. They are also working on modifying the tool for a more diverse Canadian pediatric population (younger children ages 2-7 years and French populations).