Hot weather and sudden kidney injury
Heat and Acute Kidney Injury: A Detailed Assessment using Electronic Medical Records and High-Resolution Exposure Modeling
Researchers are using hospital records and detailed local temperature maps to find out if heat exposure leads to sudden kidney injury in people who go to the emergency department or are hospitalized.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Emory University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Atlanta, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11125913 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
The team will search electronic medical records to identify people who had a sudden drop in kidney function using lab results and clinical notes rather than just billing codes. They will link each case to high-resolution outdoor temperature estimates at the patient’s home or location to capture neighborhood heat differences. The project will distinguish injuries that began in the community from those that started after hospital admission and will consider other factors like age and air pollution. This approach aims to provide a clearer picture of when and where heat-related kidney problems happen.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: People with an emergency department visit or hospitalization for acute kidney injury who have linked electronic health records and address/location data (particularly in the Atlanta area) would be relevant to this work.
Not a fit: Patients without linked address or timing data, or those with chronic end-stage kidney disease on long-term dialysis, may not benefit directly from this research.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help target warnings, prevention efforts, and heat-health policies to reduce heat-related acute kidney injury.
How similar studies have performed: Previous large-population studies using billing codes have reported links between heat and AKI, but this project uses lab-based case identification and finer temperature data to improve accuracy.
Where this research is happening
Atlanta, United States
- Emory University — Atlanta, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Ebelt, Stefanie — Emory University
- Study coordinator: Ebelt, Stefanie
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.