US Pharm. 2011;36(9):HS-39-HS-40. 

Researchers say they have developed and validated a tool to predict short-term risk for progression to kidney failure in patients with stage 3 to 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD). The model uses eight variables: age, sex, estimated glomerular filtration rate, albuminuria, serum calcium, serum phosphate, serum bicarbonate, and serum albumin. The primary outcome measured was kidney failure, defined as the need for dialysis or preemptive kidney transplantation. The development cohort comprised 3,449 patients (386 [11%] with kidney failure) and the validation cohort comprised 4,942 patients (1,177 [24%] with kidney failure). The research was published in JAMA.