Editorial Setting the Agenda

year period, there was a greater than 20-fold increase in hospitalizations for acute kidney injury (AKI), from an age-adjusted rate of 18 per 100,000 population in 1980 to 365 per 100,000 population in 2005. During the same period, hospital-izations for chronic kidney disease increased less than two-fold, from 74 to 138 per 100,000 population. Although the majority of kidney disease research has focused on chronic and end-stage disease, these data highlight the pressing need to understand the causes for this explosive increase in acute kidney disease and improve clinical strategies for its prevention and treatment. Understanding the epidemiology of AKI has been hampered by the multiplicity of definitions that have been used in clinical studies (2). The need for a consensus definition and classifica-tion system for AKI was recognized by the Acute Dialysis Quality Initiative, resulting in the development of the RIFL