EXTON, Pa.—BioTrends Research Group announced the release of its 2012 ChartTrends: Bone and Mineral Metabolism in Dialysis (U.S.) report, the seventh in an ongoing annual series.

The study was conducted with 226 U.S. nephrologists who completed detailed chart reviews for 1,061 dialysis patients. This is also the second ChartTrends report published since the dialysis bundle legislation was implemented in January 2011.

The study found that nephrologists tend to overestimate the percent of dialysis patients being treated with phosphate binders and that, compared to just one year ago, dialysis-audited prevalence of binders has declined. This binder treatment prevalence level is approaching that of Europe, which historically has been lower than the United States.

Dialysis patients with known or suspected arterial calcification are directionally more likely to be treated with phosphate binders compared to those without calcification; yet the use of calcium-based binders does not differ between the two groups. Nephrologists appear to be initiating binder type (e.g., non-calcium vs. calcium) based on calcium levels with patients with higher calcium levels typically receiving non-calcium based binders such as Sanofi's sevelamer (Renagel, Renvela) or Shire's Fosrenol.

...