THE KIDNEY OUTCOMES PREDICTION AND EVALUATION (KOPE) STUDY - A PROSPECTIVE COHORT INVESTIGATION OF PATIENTS UNDERGOING HEMODIALYSIS - STUDYDESIGN AND BASE-LINE CHARACTERISTICS

PURPOSE: The purpose of the Kidney Outcomes Prediction and Evaluation (KOPE) study, was to more fully characterize the end-stage renal disea se (ESRD) population with respect to social, psychological, and clinic al characteristics, and to prospectively study the biomedical, social, and psychological factors that influence a range of ESRD outcomes in a large observational study of black and white patients on hemodialysi s. This paper focuses on the KOPE study design as well as characterist ics of patients at baseline. METHODS: KOPE was a prospective cohort in vestigation of patients treated at four dialysis centers in Forsyth Co unty, North Carolina. Participants were interviewed at the dialysis ce nters, semi-annually over a 3 1/2 year period. Prevalent cases who wer e being treated with hemodialysis at the initiation of the study were enrolled into KOPE. Incident cases were subsequently enrolled as they presented to the participating units for hemodialysis. A total of 304 prevalent and 162 incident cases were enrolled into the study. The bas eline health and sociodemographic characteristics of KOPE participants reported in this paper were obtained from medical records and Southea st Kidney Council data. Laboratory values taken within a 30-day interv al around the baseline interview are also reported. RESULTS: KOPE part icipants differ from national statistics on race, age, and gender. Dif ferences between KOPE participants and patients living in the region, but who did not participate in the study, can be explained by our recr uitment criteria. CONCLUSIONS: KOPE will enable the characterization o f the ESRD population, identification of factors related to poor outco mes, and identification of opportunities for interventions to prevent death and morbidity. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.