# The Southeastern Acute Kidney Injury (SEAK) Alliance for the COPE-AKI Consortium

> **NIH NIH U01** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2022 · $666,667

## Abstract

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is an enormous public health problem that affects up to 20% of hospitalized patients,
is strongly associated with morbidity and mortality, and carries a high financial toll. Nowhere is this more
apparent than in the Southeastern US, which is disproportionately affected by kidney disease and its
complications. AKI is an important risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD), cardiovascular disease, poor
health-related quality of life (HRQoL), rehospitalizations, and death after hospital discharge. Improving the
quality of care following hospitalization has been recognized by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive
and Kidney Diseases and other stakeholders as a critical opportunity to reduce the risk for these long-term
complications. Despite this emphasis, care of AKI survivors is often poor and fragmented, and patients face
both systemic and individual-level barriers to optimal care. These include poor access to nephrology-specific
care elements such as monitoring of kidney function for recovery or recurrent AKI, risk factor identification and
modification for kidney disease progression, medication reconciliation and nephrotoxin avoidance, use of
kidney and cardioprotective medications, and appropriate patient and caregiver education. In addition, many
patients also experience poor quality of life and other barriers to care, including a heavy symptom burden and
fatigue, limited mobility, reduced access to transportation or ability to miss work that can further limit
engagement in care. This application will perform a randomized clinical trial designed to examine whether two
interventions delivered remotely via telehealth can overcome these barriers to reduce clinical complications
and improve health-related quality of life among patients discharged from the hospital with moderate to severe
AKI. Two interventions will be tested over a 90-day period following hospital discharge. The first intervention
is a ‘post-hospitalization AKI care bundle’ designed to optimize care that includes monitoring of kidney health,
medication safety review and reconciliation, patient and caregiver education, and identification of modifiable
risk factors for further loss of kidney function. The second intervention is cognitive-behavioral based physical
therapy (CBPT), a novel home-based intervention that couples self-directed exercise with cognitive-behavioral
strategies that can reduce patient’s perception of symptoms and improve engagement and functional status.
We will test the ability of these interventions to improve clinical outcomes after AKI such as
rehospitalizations/emergency room visits, recurrent AKI, death, and kidney function at 90 days. We will also
evaluate health-related quality of life and symptom burden. Patients will be followed for up to 12 months after
enrollment to examine the longer-term impact of these interventions. The study will be performed at Vanderbilt
University Medical Center (PI Siew) and University ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10451665
- **Project number:** 5U01DK129989-02
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Javier A. Neyra
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $666,667
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-07-19 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10451665

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10451665, The Southeastern Acute Kidney Injury (SEAK) Alliance for the COPE-AKI Consortium (5U01DK129989-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10451665. Licensed CC0.

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