ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT02753751Updated Feb 10, 2022Results posted

Optimizing Electronic Alerts for Acute Kidney Injury

An interventional study of AKI Alert in Acute Kidney Injury, sponsored by Yale University. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-02-10.

Sponsored by Yale University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
6,030
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study will enroll hospitalized adults with acute kidney injury (AKI) and randomize them to usual care versus an electronic alert coupled to a "best practices" order set.

Read the detailed description

Acute kidney injury (AKI) carries a significant, independent risk of mortality among hospitalized patients. Recent studies have demonstrated increased mortality among patients with even small increases in serum creatinine concentration. International guidelines for the treatment of AKI focus on appropriate management of drug dosing, avoiding nephrotoxic exposures, and careful attention to fluid and electrolyte balance. Early nephrologist involvement may also improve outcomes in AKI. Without appropriate provider recognition of AKI, however, none of these measures can be taken, and patient outcomes may suffer. AKI is frequently overlooked by clinicians, but carries a substantial cost, morbidity and mortality burden.

The investigators conducted a pilot, randomized trial of electronic alerts for acute kidney injury in 2014. The trial, which randomized 2400 patients with AKI as defined by an increase in creatinine of 0.3mg/dl over 48 hours or 50% over 7 days, found that alerting physicians to the presence of AKI did not improve the course of acute kidney injury, reduce dialysis or death rates. However this study was conducted in a single hospital, and the alert itself did not describe specific actions that a provider could take. In the present proposal, the investigators seek to expand upon their prior study to determine both the modes of alerting that would be most effective and to determine if targeting alerts (such as to patients on medications that may worsen acute kidney injury) will improve effectiveness.

This study will be a randomized, controlled trial of an electronic AKI alert system. Using the Kidney Disease: Improve Global Outcomes creatinine criteria, inpatients at several hospitals will be randomized to usual care versus electronic alerting. The primary outcome will be a composite of progression of acute kidney injury, dialysis and death.

02

Conditions studied

  • Acute Kidney Injury

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03

In context

Acute Kidney Injury

1,641 studies on the registry are indexed under Acute Kidney Injury; 380 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 6,030 is above the median of 100 across 786 interventional studies indexed under Acute Kidney Injury.

Browse Acute Kidney Injury studies →

Lead sponsor

Yale University is the lead sponsor of 1,763 studies on the registry; 292 are open to participants now.

Of its 217 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 128 (59%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Adult ≥ 18 years admitted to a participating study hospital
  • Acute Kidney Injury as defined by KDIGO consensus creatinine criteria (0.3mg/dl increase in serum creatinine over 48 hours or 50% relative increase over 7 days).

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • ESKD diagnosis code
  • Dialysis order prior to AKI onset
  • Initial creatinine >=4.0mg/dl
  • Prior admission in which patient was randomized.
  • Admission to hospice service or comfort measures only order
  • Kidney transplant within 6 months
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Supportive care
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Triple (Participant, Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
6,030 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • No intervention
    Usual Care

    No alert will be fired.

  • Experimental
    Electronic AKI Alert

    A pop-up alert will fire when a provider opens the electronic health record of a patient with AKI until such time as AKI is documented in the problem list, or AKI resolves.

    Other: AKI Alert

Interventions

  • OtherAKI Alert

    Provider's will receive a "pop-up" alert in the electronic health record until AKI is documented in the problem list or AKI resolves.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Composite of Progression of AKI, Inpatient Dialysis, or Inpatient Death

    Progression of AKI is defined by an increase in KDIGO creatinine stage from that present at the time of randomization. Dialysis is defined by the receipt of hemodialysis, continuous renal replacement therapy or peritoneal dialysis. Isolated ultrafiltration treatments (for the purpose of volume removal) will not be included. Mortality will be determined from hospital administrative records.

    Time frame: 14 days from randomization

Secondary outcomes

  1. Mortality

    14-day or inpatient mortality

    Time frame: 14 days from randomization

  2. Dialysis

    14-day, inpatient, or discharged on dialysis

    Time frame: 14 days from randomization

  3. AKI Progression

    Percent of patients who progress to stage 2 AKI and to stage 3 AKI

    Time frame: 14 days from randomization

  4. AKI Duration

    Number of participants with AKI duration of \<2 days, 2-\<days, and 7+ days (Aki duration defined as time in days between AKI onset and AKI cessation during index hospitalization)

    Time frame: 14 days from randomization

  5. Readmission Rate

    30 day readmission rate

    Time frame: 30 days from randomization

  6. Index Hospitalization Cost

    Cost of index hospitalization, measured in direct and total costs. Direct costs reflect those associated with direct patient contact involving billable services (for example lab, nursing costs, and supplies). Total costs also include non-billable support services such as medical records, human resources, accounting, support staff, utilities and dietary costs.

    Time frame: Index hospitalization through discharge, up to one year

  7. Proportion of AKI "Best Practices" Achieved Per Subject During Index Hospitalization

    Best practices assessed include: Avoidance of nephrotoxins (cessation of order or absence of de novo order of IV contrast agent, aminoglycoside, NSAID, or ACE inhibitor within 24 hours of randomization), fluid administration (administration of fluids within 24 hours of randomization), urinalysis order (with or without microscopy within 24 hours of randomization), documentation of AKI (by ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes during index hospitalization), monitoring of creatinine (at least one serum creatinine measurement occurring within 36 hours of randomization), documentation of urine output (within 24 hours of randomization), renal consult order during index hospitalization. Each metric above is binary. Outcome is reported as a composite best practice outcome representing the proportion of best practices achieved per subject.

    Time frame: 24 hours from randomization to discharge, up to one year

  8. Number of Subjects With Chart Documentation of AKI

    Proportion of subjects with chart documentation of AKI by post-discharge ICD-10 codes and by chart adjudication

    Time frame: Index hospitalization

07

Results

Posted Feb 10, 2022
Limitations and caveats
Randomization occurred at the patient level, potentially biasing the results towards the null hypothesis. The alert was largely informational with no patient-specific recommendations. The alert was only sent to certain care providers, notably excluding nurses and pharmacists, who might specifically benefit from receipt of the alert. The alert was conducted across six hospitals within a single large health system in the Northeastern United States, limiting generalizability.

Participant flow

From 3/29/2018 to 12/14/2019, 6,030 individuals met enrollment criteria and were randomized across 6 hospitals of a single healthcare system.

Participant flow — Overall Study
MilestoneUsual CareElectronic AKI Alert
Started29713059
Completed29713059
Not completed00

Outcome measures

PrimaryComposite of Progression of AKI, Inpatient Dialysis, or Inpatient Death

Progression of AKI is defined by an increase in KDIGO creatinine stage from that present at the time of randomization. Dialysis is defined by the receipt of hemodialysis, continuous renal replacement therapy or peritoneal dialysis. Isolated ultrafiltration treatments (for the purpose of volume removal) will not be included. Mortality will be determined from hospital administrative records.

Time frame:
14 days from randomization
Reported as:
Count of participants · Participants
Composite of Progression of AKI, Inpatient Dialysis, or Inpatient Death
ParticipantsUsual CareElectronic AKI Alert
Composite of Progression of AKI, Inpatient Dialysis, or Inpatient Death622653
Statistical analysis
  • Usual Care vs Electronic AKI Alert · Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel · p = 0.67 (A p-value of \<=0.04 was considered statistically significant to account for the interim analysis.) · Risk ratio (rr): 1.02 · 95% CI 0.93 to 1.13
SecondaryMortality

14-day or inpatient mortality

Time frame:
14 days from randomization
Reported as:
Count of participants · Participants
Mortality
ParticipantsUsual CareElectronic AKI Alert
Mortality265272
SecondaryDialysis

14-day, inpatient, or discharged on dialysis

Time frame:
14 days from randomization
Reported as:
Count of participants · Participants
Dialysis
ParticipantsUsual CareElectronic AKI Alert
Dialysis93106
SecondaryAKI Progression

Percent of patients who progress to stage 2 AKI and to stage 3 AKI

Time frame:
14 days from randomization
Reported as:
Count of participants · Participants
AKI Progression
ParticipantsUsual CareElectronic AKI Alert
AKI Progression461487
SecondaryAKI Duration

Number of participants with AKI duration of \<2 days, 2-\<days, and 7+ days (Aki duration defined as time in days between AKI onset and AKI cessation during index hospitalization)

Time frame:
14 days from randomization
Reported as:
Count of participants · Participants
AKI Duration
ParticipantsUsual CareElectronic AKI Alert
<2 days21082239
2-<7 days722700
7+ days141120
SecondaryReadmission Rate

30 day readmission rate

Time frame:
30 days from randomization

No measurements were reported for this outcome.

SecondaryIndex Hospitalization Cost

Cost of index hospitalization, measured in direct and total costs. Direct costs reflect those associated with direct patient contact involving billable services (for example lab, nursing costs, and supplies). Total costs also include non-billable support services such as medical records, human resources, accounting, support staff, utilities and dietary costs.

Time frame:
Index hospitalization through discharge, up to one year
Reported as:
Median · dollars
Index Hospitalization Cost
dollarsUsual CareElectronic AKI Alert
Direct Costs10300 (5400 to 21900)10600 (5400 to 22800)
Total Costs19100 (9900 to 42500)20100 (10200 to 43600)
SecondaryProportion of AKI "Best Practices" Achieved Per Subject During Index Hospitalization

Best practices assessed include: Avoidance of nephrotoxins (cessation of order or absence of de novo order of IV contrast agent, aminoglycoside, NSAID, or ACE inhibitor within 24 hours of randomization), fluid administration (administration of fluids within 24 hours of randomization), urinalysis order (with or without microscopy within 24 hours of randomization), documentation of AKI (by ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes during index hospitalization), monitoring of creatinine (at least one serum creatinine measurement occurring within 36 hours of randomization), documentation of urine output (within 24 hours of randomization), renal consult order during index hospitalization. Each metric above is binary. Outcome is reported as a composite best practice outcome representing the proportion of best practices achieved per subject.

Time frame:
24 hours from randomization to discharge, up to one year
Reported as:
Count of participants · Participants
Proportion of AKI "Best Practices" Achieved Per Subject During Index Hospitalization
ParticipantsUsual CareElectronic AKI Alert
IV fluid drip order10341174
IV fluid bolus order339397
Urinalysis444519
Urine Output Measurement21302242
Subsequent Creatinine Measurement (28 hours)25322666
Renal Consult (within 14 days)517541
Contrast exposure102115
Aminoglycoside exposure1914
Aminoglycoside exposure among those already receiving aminoglycoside85
NSAID exposure166144
NSAID exposure among those already receiving NSAIDs129103
ACE/ARB exposure425424
ACE/ARB exposure among those already receiving ACE/ARB326331
AKI documentation (at end of encounter)18712141
SecondaryNumber of Subjects With Chart Documentation of AKI

Proportion of subjects with chart documentation of AKI by post-discharge ICD-10 codes and by chart adjudication

Time frame:
Index hospitalization
Reported as:
Count of participants · Participants
Number of Subjects With Chart Documentation of AKI
ParticipantsUsual CareElectronic AKI Alert
Number of Subjects With Chart Documentation of AKI18712141

Adverse events

Collected over Duration of the study (22 months). Non-serious events are listed at a 0% frequency threshold.

Adverse event summary by group
GroupDeathsSeriousOther
Usual Care265/2,971 (8.9%)0/2,971 (0%)0/2,971 (0%)
Electronic AKI Alert272/3,059 (8.9%)0/3,059 (0%)0/3,059 (0%)

Baseline characteristics

Age, Continuous
Age, Continuous(years)Usual CareElectronic AKI AlertTotal
Median71.3 (59.4 to 81.6)71 (59 to 81.7)71.2 (59.2 to 81.7)
Sex: Female, Male
Sex: Female, Male(Participants)Usual CareElectronic AKI AlertTotal
Female144014422882
Male153116173148
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)
Ethnicity (NIH/OMB)(Participants)Usual CareElectronic AKI AlertTotal
Hispanic or Latino289331620
Not Hispanic or Latino266427125376
Unknown or Not Reported181634
Race (NIH/OMB)
Race (NIH/OMB)(Participants)Usual CareElectronic AKI AlertTotal
American Indian or Alaska Native6814
Asian354075
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander437
Black or African American462484946
White220822344442
More than one raceNANANA
Unknown or Not Reported192342
Region of Enrollment
Region of Enrollment(participants)Usual CareElectronic AKI AlertTotal
United States297130596030
Medical Admission
Medical Admission(Participants)Usual CareElectronic AKI AlertTotal
Count of participants228022844564
ICU Patient
ICU Patient(Participants)Usual CareElectronic AKI AlertTotal
Count of participants9619621923
ER Patient
ER Patient(Participants)Usual CareElectronic AKI AlertTotal
Count of participants10893201

35 further baseline measures are reported on the registry.

08

Study locations

1 site
  • Yale New Haven Hospital
    New Haven, Connecticut 06520, United States
09

References and documents

Publications

  • Wilson FP, Shashaty M, Testani J, Aqeel I, Borovskiy Y, Ellenberg SS, Feldman HI, Fernandez H, Gitelman Y, Lin J, Negoianu D, Parikh CR, Reese PP, Urbani R, Fuchs B. Automated, electronic alerts for acute kidney injury: a single-blind, parallel-group, randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2015 May 16;385(9981):1966-74. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60266-5. Epub 2015 Feb 26. PubMed 25726515 ↗
  • Wissel BD, Percy Z, Zachem TJ, Beaulieu-Jones B, Kohane IS, Goldstein SL, Gecili E, Dexheimer JW. Heterogenous effect of automated alerts on mortality. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2026 Mar 1;33(3):653-662. doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocaf222. PubMed 41445428 ↗
  • Wissel BD, Percy Z, Zachem TJ, Beaulieu-Jones B, Kohane IS, Goldstein SL, Gecili E, Dexheimer JW. Heterogeneous Effect of Automated Alerts on Mortality. medRxiv [Preprint]. 2025 Aug 13:2025.08.11.25333302. doi: 10.1101/2025.08.11.25333302. PubMed 40832403 ↗
  • Wilson FP, Martin M, Yamamoto Y, Partridge C, Moreira E, Arora T, Biswas A, Feldman H, Garg AX, Greenberg JH, Hinchcliff M, Latham S, Li F, Lin H, Mansour SG, Moledina DG, Palevsky PM, Parikh CR, Simonov M, Testani J, Ugwuowo U. Electronic health record alerts for acute kidney injury: multicenter, randomized clinical trial. BMJ. 2021 Jan 18;372:m4786. doi: 10.1136/bmj.m4786. PubMed 33461986 ↗
  • Mutter M, Martin M, Yamamoto Y, Biswas A, Etropolski B, Feldman H, Garg A, Gourlie N, Latham S, Lin H, Palevsky PM, Parikh C, Moreira E, Ugwuowo U, Wilson FP. Electronic Alerts for Acute Kidney Injury Amelioration (ELAIA-1): a completely electronic, multicentre, randomised controlled trial: design and rationale. BMJ Open. 2019 Jun 1;9(5):e025117. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-025117. PubMed 31154298 ↗

Study documents

  • Study protocol · Apr 24, 2020
  • Statistical analysis plan · Aug 21, 2020

Documents are hosted by the registry — open the source record to download them.

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — De-identified aggregate data for the primary and secondary outcomes will be made available.

Supporting information: Study protocol

Time frame: Data will be available within one year of completion.

10

Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Ran from Mar 2018 to primary completion in Jan 2020, 21 months.

Results were first posted in Feb 2022, 2 years 1 month after primary completion.

Of 239 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Acute Kidney Injury, half reached primary completion within 27 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 14 and three quarters within 44. This study's 21 months is below that.

Counting every sponsor, half of 255 studies reached it within 26 months; a quarter within 12 and three quarters within 44.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Apr 25, 2016
First posted
Apr 28, 2016
StartActual
Mar 26, 2018
Primary completionActual
Jan 6, 2020
CompletionActual
Jan 6, 2020
Results first posted
Feb 10, 2022
Last update
Feb 10, 2022
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Feb 10, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT02753751
Lead sponsor
Yale University
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Apr 28, 2016
Start date
Mar 26, 2018
Primary completion
Jan 6, 2020
Completion
Jan 6, 2020
Results posted
Feb 10, 2022
Last update
Feb 10, 2022

Study contacts

Francis P Wilson, MD MSCE
principal investigator · Yale University

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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