Purpose: The Kidney Early Evaluation Program (KEEP), which was started in 1997, aims to identify persons at risk for chronic kidney disease (CKD) and encourage at-risk persons to seek evaluation and management from a healthcare provider.
Methods: Community screening was conducted using a standardized questionnaire and test panel that was administered by local affiliates of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) using volunteer lay and medical personnel. The screening was limited to persons at high risk for CKD, which was defined as those with a personal history of diabetes or hypertension, or a first-order relative with diabetes, hypertension, or kidney disease. The KEEP Data Coordinating Center was established to maintain a de-identified database of demographic information and test results on the screened persons.
Results: Data on the first 11,246 participants were analyzed. As expected, the KEEP population was enriched with African Americans and was older than the general population. Diabetes was determined by self-report or abnormal blood glucose levels at screening and was present in 2690 of the persons screened. Chronic kidney disease was identified in 47.4% of this population.
Conclusions: Targeted community screening for kidney disease in a high-risk population can identify a significant number of persons with CKD, enhance awareness of the disease, and may improve health-seeking behavior.