Long-term outcomes of patients with type 2 diabetes attending a multidisciplinary diabetes kidney disease clinic

Background: The best model of care to retard diabetic kidney disease (DKD) in the clinic is underexplored. In this study we investigated the long-term renal outcomes of a joint endocrinologist-nephrologist clinic.

Methods: The present study was a nested case-control study derived from a cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) seen prospectively at a secondary care diabetes center (DC). Cases ("DKD clinic group") were patients seen at the CKD clinic after being referred by physicians in DCs for management of DKD. Controls ("non-DKD clinic group") were patients from the same DC (i.e. same source population) with the same inclusion criteria of Stages 3-4 chronic kidney disease (CKD) at baseline but not seen at the DKD clinic. The outcome was Stage 5 CKD, defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate <15 mL/min per 1.73 m² .

Results: During the median follow-up period of 3.0 years (interquartile range 1.2-5.1 years), 240 patients (28.7%) reached Stage 5 CKD, with 45.8% and 54.2% of those reaching Stage 5 CKD in the DKD and non-DKD clinic groups, respectively. Multivariable Cox regression revealed that the DKD clinic group had a lower risk of progressing to Stage 5 CKD (hazard ratio 0.55; 95% confidence interval 0.36-0.83; P = 0.004) compared with the non-DKD clinic group.

Conclusions: Multidisciplinary endocrinology and nephrology care in the DKD clinic is associated with a lower risk of end-stage renal disease. These findings may inform future management strategies targeted at patients with T2DM and CKD, especially with regard to joint specialist management involving endocrinologists and nephrologists.