Sustainable community-based CKD screening methods employed by the National Kidney Foundation's Kidney Early Evaluation Program (KEEP)

Abstract

KEEP clearly shows that targeted screening for kidney disease has a high yield for identifying people in the community at increased risk and detecting individuals with decreased kidney function. More importantly, KEEP is a screening and awareness program for the common soil of major chronic conditions, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, CKD, and cardiovascular disease. The importance of early intervention in these chronic disease states has gained widespread recognition, helping KEEP grow in the past decade into an international program. Additionally, the versatility of the KEEP database enables researchers to work with the KEEP Steering Committee to conduct population-based epidemiologic analyses. From this information, the NKF and the global public health community can identify the need for future educational programs and match content to specific target audiences. The goal of KEEP is not just to identify and measure illness parameters, but also to increase awareness of kidney disease risk and complications in physicians and patients to optimally influence care measures and clinical outcomes. The model for KEEP has emphasized volunteerism, community involvement, simplicity, multidisciplinary oversight, attention to safety, assiduous results reporting, repeated follow-up, and continuous improvement. These tenets, coupled with a focus on primary prevention, have produced the nation's only sustainable chronic disease screening program, which serves as a model for other national and global attempts aimed at controlling chronic illness. © 2011 by the National Kidney Foundation, Inc.