Assessment of Worldwide Acute Kidney Injury Epidemiology in Neonates

Introduction: Based on single-center data, approximately 1 of every 3 newborns admitted to tertiary level neonatal intensive care units (NICU) develops acute kidney injury (AKI), and those with AKI have significantly worse outcomes. To stimulate discussion among researchers, the NIH NIDDK sponsored a workshop on neonatal AKI in April 2013. At that workshop, the group recognized the need to improve collaborations between neonatologists and nephrologists within and across centers. The investigators have created a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary group, Neonatal Kidney Collaborative (NKC), in order to address the following critical needs identified at the workshop: AWAKEN is the inaugural study of this new collaboration. 1. Development of a standardized evidence-based definition of neonatal AKI 2. Evaluation of risk factors that predispose neonatal to AKI 3. Investigation into how fluid provision/ balance impacts biochemical and clinical outcomes