Kidney Disease Research Updates
Spring/Summer 2008

NIDDK News

NKUDIC Answers Nearly 9,000 Queries in 2007

The National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NKUDIC) responded to 8,859 requests for information during calendar year 2007. While the percentage of inquiries that came from patients, their families, or friends fell by half from 2006—to 19 percent—inquiries from the general public increased 3 percent, according to Kathy Kranzfelder, director of the Clearinghouse. Kranzfelder presented a Clearinghouse update at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases’ (NIDDK’s) annual NKUDIC Coordinating Panel Meeting in March.

“What’s more impressive is traffic to our website, which essentially represents self-service inquiry response,” said Kranzfelder. “In 2007, an average of 25,000 to 30,000 visitors would come to the NIDDK’s kidney and urologic topics each day.”

Forty-four percent of the 8,859 “traditional” requests for information came from health professionals. The breakdown of NKUDIC customers in 2007 is depicted in the graph.

The majority of information requests—4,856—came through online orders. The other most popular ways to request Clearinghouse information were via email messages (1,851); phone calls (1,482); letters (451); and faxes (94).

The NKUDIC inventory includes 208 publication titles. Last year, the Clearinghouse produced 12 new publications and updated 20 existing resources. The NKUDIC distributed 309,710 publications in 2007, including fact sheets, booklets, reports, journal reprints, and materials from patient and professional organizations. The most popular NKUDIC publications in hard copy were

• Kidney Failure: Choosing a Treatment That’s Right for You
• Your Kidneys and How They Work
• Interstitial Cystitis/Painful Bladder Syndrome
• What I need to know about Bladder Control for Women

NIDDK Reference Collection

The number of visitors to the NIDDK Reference Collection last year increased to more than 510,000 from more than 310,000 in 2006. The NIDDK Reference Collection is a free, online database of educational materials not typically referenced in other databases. The most popular kidney and urology search topics were renal artery stenosis, pediatric kidney disease, urinary incontinence in men, and kidney stones. Reference Collection materials and all of the NKUDIC’s other resources are available at www.kidney.niddk.nih.gov.

NIH Publication No. 08–4531
July 2008

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