New clinical decision support tool aims to improve chronic kidney disease care - News-Medical

Legalization of recreational cannabis in the US is associated with a rise in hospital admissions for cardiovascular disease, finds an analysis of more than 50 million patient discharge records, published in the open access journal BMJ Open. Admissions for atrial fibrillation (abnormal heart rhythm), heart failure, and heart attack all rose faster after the law was enacted in the Western region of the US with the policy than in states without, the analysis shows.

Future pregnancy plans don’t preclude living kidney donation, but candidates should be counseled on gestational hypertension risk. Future pregnancy plans need not rule out living kidney donation, but candidates should be counseled on hypertensive risk. New data on pregnancy after living kidney donation give transplant teams clearer numbers to share with donor candidates who may want children in the future.¹In a matched cohort study from 3 Canadian provinces, presented at American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week 2026 by Amit X. Garg, MD, PhD, and published simultaneously in JAMA, most donor pregnancies were uncomplicated, with a modest increase in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.¹ Will Donating a Kidney Affect Future Pregnancies? In 2024, more than 40,000 living kidney donations were reported across 88 countries.¹ For donors who may become pregnant later, Garg said the central question is whether donation will affect those pregnancies.

News|Videos|October 22, 2026 Chance, biology, and shared genetics may explain more small for gestational age births after living kidney donation. Small for gestational age births and shared donor-recipient genetics complicate the picture of pregnancy after living kidney donation. Investigators behind a new Canadian study of pregnancy after living kidney donation are weighing why donors had more small for gestational age (SGA) births than matched nondonors, and whether shared genetics with recipients could play a role.¹The matched cohort study, presented at American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week 2026 by Amit X. Garg, MD, PhD, and published simultaneously in JAMA, spanned 3 provinces and also found a modest increase in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy among donors.¹ How Did the Study Compare Donors and Nondonors? Using linked administrative health databases from Ontario, British Columbia, and Alberta, investigators compared 385 pregnancies in 252 living kidney donors with 1,540 matched pregnancies in 1,535 nondonors.¹ To reflect donors’ healthier baseline profile, nondonors with any of 35 conditions that would preclude donation were excluded.

Earlier this month, Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said the province had secured almost two million doses of this season’s flu vaccine and 1.5 million doses of an updated COVID-19 vaccine. Appointments began after Thanksgiving starting with people most at risk. “Vaccinations are the cornerstone of protection,” Dr. Muhammad Mukarram, a medical health officer at Interior Health added. “Last year as well, we had a small spike in the number of cases and once we started giving out immunizations and a major proportion of the population was vaccinated, the cases started to plateau.”According to the data, flu activity in B. C. was moderate with between 9.8 and 17.7 per cent of cases testing positive for the week ending Oct. 10. Flu activity in Alberta and the territories was low, while all other provinces were reporting very low flu activity. “These rates tend to fluctuate a lot. For example, tomorrow, you might find out that Ontario has more number of cases,” Mukarram added, noting B. C. rates could be higher because more testing is taking place.

A sick person is shown in this file photo. Health Canada data shows flu season has arrived early in B. C., and pharmacists say symptoms are more severe this year.