General Approach to Evaluating Beneficial and Adverse Effects of CAM Use in Kidney Diseases

Abstract

This chapter will address the issue of how to evaluate benefits and nephrotoxicity of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in chronic kidney disease, dialysis therapy, kidney transplantation, and urolithiasis. Serum creatinine, proteinuria and estimated glomerular filtration rate are standard parameters to assess kidney function. Serum creatinine is used in evaluating acute kidney injury, which is the most common nephropathy from using herbal medicine. Assessment of electrolyte imbalance and urolithiasis is included in this chapter. The modified Naranjo algorithm has been proposed as a way to evaluate renal adverse effects of herbal medicine due to a lack of disease-specific causality assessments in herbal use. Measurement of humanistic outcomes is mentioned in this chapter. The SF-36 is commonly used in evaluating quality of life in CAM users and patients with kidney diseases. The MYMOP2 is to assess individual's symptoms in CAM use and might be used in this population.