Measurement Properties of Kidney Disease Symptom Score Explored in Non-Dialysis-Dependent CKD

TUESDAY, Dec. 23, 2025 (HealthDay News) — The Kidney Disease Symptom Score (KDSS) has temporal stability for patients with non-dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (NDD-CKD) with stable kidney function, but responsiveness of the KDSS for physical symptoms and mental health is seen in only a subset of patients with NDD-CKD, according to a study published online Dec. 18 in KIDNEY360.

Dipal M. Patel, M.D., Ph.D., from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues examined the measurement properties of the KDSS when used in usual clinical care for patients with NDD-CKD. The study included 147 patients with stable NDD-CKD and 35 patients with worsening kidney function.

The researchers observed strong correlations between sequential KDSS assessments of general health, quality of life, physical symptoms, and mental health (Spearman”s rank correlation [rho], 0.76, 0.63, 0.74, and 0.71, respectively) in patients with stable NDD-CKD. The KDSS detected a clinically important difference in physical symptom and mental health scores in about 40 percent of respondents with worsening kidney function. Moderate-to-strong correlations were seen between KDSS and the Medicare Annual Wellness Visit assessments of general health and depressive symptoms (rho, 0.64 and 0.50, respectively).

“While the KDSS demonstrated temporal stability for individuals with stable kidney function, the KDSS was able to detect clinically important differences in scores for only a subset of individuals with NDD-CKD,” the authors write. “These data, as well as evidence of the KDSS being impacted by hospitalizations, question the specificity of the KDSS to kidney function.”

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