Study II (2016)

In 2016, our team recruited 650 children in Nicaragua. This study differed from the first study in that we selected three high-risk locations (Chichigalpa, La Paz Centro, Mina El Limón) and one reference location for comparison (Managua) and broadened the ages of children in the study (ages 7-17). In addition to measuring creatinine levels on all participants, we also have analyzed biomarkers of kidney injury (NGAL, IL-18, MCP-1, YKL-40 and KIM-1) among a subset of 210 children. 

We identified significant elevations in kidney injury biomarkers among youth with no occupational experiencing, suggesting that kidney injury was occurring prior to working life. 

Publications: Leibler JH, Ramirez-Rubio O, Velázquez JJA, Pilarte DL, Obeid W, Parikh CR, Gadupudi S, Scammell MK, Friedman DJ, Brooks DR. Biomarkers of kidney injury among children in a high-risk region for chronic kidney disease of uncertain etiology. Pediatr Nephrol. 2021 Feb;36(2):387-396. doi: 10.1007/s00467-020-04595-3. Epub 2020 Jun 5. PMID: 32504218.

An accompanying editorial was published alongside this paper: Abeyagunawardena AS, Shroff R. CKDu: the known unknowns. Pediatr Nephrol. 2021 Feb;36(2):219-221. doi: 10.1007/s00467-020-04596-2. Epub 2020 May 15. PMID: 32415327.