[Research potential of a regional registry]

The need for data bank gathering information in dialysis patients is as old as dialysis. Dialysis Registries presently active are characterized by different policies of data gathering (large vs small number of information) and of use (research vs economical or clinical purposes). Aim of the work was a discussion on the use of a Regional Registry (RPDT, Regional Registry of Dialysis and Transplantation of Piedmont, Italy), gathering since 1981 a wide set of information (about 80 items) on all patients treated in a relatively small area (about 4,300,000 inhabitants).

Two researches were selected: the first includes patients treated for > or = 20 years by RRT. Cases were identified on the basis of RPDT data and an inquiry regarding all patients was performed, with specific interest on comorbidity. The second includes diabetic patients on regular RRT, a sample of which was further analyzed in high detail.

While a Regional Registry, even gathering a wide set of data is unable to answer to the most qualitative questions, such as quality of life, its archives are a powerful tool to identify cases. Furthermore, ad hoc inquiries may represent a way to control quality of data or to test new fields to be studied. In the case of patients with long RRT follow-up, comorbidity questions were tested before being included on RPDT. In the case of a sample of diabetic patients, type of diabetes and cause of ESRD were controlled. This biunivocal relationship between clinical work-up and epidemiological archives may often interest future perspectives.