ODYSSEE Kidney Health Trial

INTRODUCTION Severe CKD is defined as a risk of greater than 10% for progressing to RRT \[home hemodialysis (HHD), home peritoneal dialysis (HPD), and transplantation\] within 2 years. There is a need to improve access to CKD self-care counselling and RRT education for patients with severe CKD. Trials of CKD self-care education have achieved therapeutic benefits with moderate to high patient-provider contact. There is high potential for a trial of digital counselling for CKD self-care and RRT education to enhance patient health and quality of life. HYPOTHESES The primary hypothesis is that ODYSSEE-KH versus usual care (UC) will significantly increase the incidence of home RRT, measured by a composite index of HHD, HPD, and preemptive kidney transplant at trial completion (median = 19 months; range: 12 to 27 months). The secondary hypothesis is that ODYSSEE-KH for CKD self-care and RRT education improves Home RRT, RRT preparation, annual hospitalization rate, engagement with CKD self-care resources at months 6 and 12 and trial completion and scores on outcome measures. RECRUITMENT Patients diagnosed with CKD who are 18 years of age or older were recruited from University Health Network (UHN), Sunnybrook Hospital, Scarborough Health Network, and The Ottawa Hospital. DESIGN ODYSSEE-KH is a double-arm, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial that has assessments at baseline, months 6 and 12, and trial completion (median = 19 months; range: 12 to 27 months). This is a single-blind design with research personnel masked. ODYSSEE-KH combines automated digital counselling of CKD self-care with renal replacement therapy (RRT) education. UC enhances the standard of usual care by providing patients with conventional digital CKD education. Over 27 months, patients will be emailed on a weekly basis with a digital link to log on to their respective program using a password-protected, personal account. ANALYSIS Separate GLMs will evaluate if Digital Counselling versu