Reverse epidemiology in patients with chronic kidney disease who are not yet on dialysis.

Many traditional risk factors show a seemingly paradoxical, inverse association with mortality in patients on dialysis. In spite of their larger numbers, patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) who are not yet on dialysis are less well studied. Preliminary studies indicate that "reverse epidemiology" is also present in patients with CKD who are not yet on dialysis. Studying patients with CKD offers hope to further our understanding of this phenomenon.