Clinical Research Methods in CJASN

Abstract

Epidemiology and biostatistics have played an increasingly important role in the study of renal disease and, therefore, the nephrology literature. As a result, many nephrologists seek opportunities to improve their ability to read this literature critically. Responding to this need, we begin a series of articles in this issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology ( CJASN ) that will highlight major clinical research methods that many of CJASN ’s contributors use in their studies of renal diseases. Although this series will cover only a portion of the large set of methods and issues that are relevant to the conduct of clinical research in nephrology, it will be extended periodically to expand opportunities for CJASN readers to be exposed to the full array of clinical research tools. The number of published clinical research studies has increased greatly in the past decade. Since 2000 alone, Medline contains nearly 24,000 citations that both address kidney disease and are identified as using epidemiologic study methods. Clinical epidemiologic studies can be categorized according to broad areas of inquiry listed in Figure 1. Although questions in these areas can be informed by a variety of study methods, each …