Expansion of the DOPPS Practice Monitor to the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries

The Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (DOPPS) is expanding the DOPPS Practice Monitor (DPM) to display hemodialysis data for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Similar to the DPM in the United States, which was launched in November 2010, the GCC DPM will report ongoing trends in hemodialysis clinical practice.

The GCC DPM initiative will feature a publicly available website that will provide reports aggregating data from a sample of GCC hemodialysis facilities and describing trends in many different aspects of hemodialysis practice across all six GCC countries, and within individual GCC countries. Data will be updated annually on the DPM website, DOPPS.org/DPM/GCC.

The GCC DPM website will present information about demographics, comorbidities, anemia practices, bone and mineral practices, dialysis prescription and dose, nutrition-related practice, and vascular access use. Presenting these data in the form of more than 90 regularly updated charts, figures, and data tables, the DPM will provide comparisons by country in each of these practice areas in the GCC.

In addition to the GCC, the DPM also displays data from the United States, Canada, and Germany. The expansion of the DPM to include data on facilities in the GCC will provide a source of timely, representative data. Analysis of trends from the DPM can serve as a basis for patient and dialysis community outreach, editorial comment, and informed advocacy.