I. SPECIFIC AIMS \& HYPOTHESES I.1.HYPOTHESES: Despite higher burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in minorities, they have greater survival compared to non-Hispanic Whites with CKD. The investigators hypothesize that survival advantages of minority CKD patients (pts) result from biologically plausible mechanisms related to differences in nutritional status \& diet (main hypothesis) or differences in bone-\&-minerals and/or psychosocial \& coping status (2 alternative hypotheses). Differences in these conditions may lead to different degrees of protein-energy wasting, inflammation, oxidative stress, \& platelet activation, leading to thrombo-embolic \& cardiovascular (CV) events. Discovering the biology of CKD racial survival disparities may lead to improving outcomes in both CKD and others chronic diseases.
During this 5-year study the principal investigator (Dr. Kalantar-Zadeh) will also help a number of early-career investigators to design and develop additional studies including research in minority populations with chronic diseases using data and resources of this study.
