About CPKDRC

CPKDRC logo ABOUT CPKDRC

Established in 1985, the Canadian Pediatric Kidney Disease Research Centre (CPKDRC) is a communication network and research facilitation centre focused primarily on childhood kidney disease.

The objectives of the CPKDRC are to:

provide a unique opportunity to promote and foster clinical research using a multicentre approach
study a wide variety of kidney diseases affecting children
provide a study population large enough to allow collaborative research to be carried out in a reasonable length of time
centrally coordinate the design, data collection, statistical analyses, and report writing of large multicentre studies

The CPKDRC has enrolled over 2000 children from across Canada in a wide variety of Hamburger Disease (Escherichia coli O157) and Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) studies, representing some of the largest series of patients ever reported in the world. This research has provided a definitive understanding of how a person may come into contact with Escherichia coli bacteria, as well as risk factors that make one more likely to develop HUS following this kind of infection. Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) is a disease that affects the kidneys and other organs. It poses a substantial threat to children as one of the leading causes of sudden acute kidney failure.