In 2003, the National Kidney Disease Education Program (NKDEP) conducted a telephone survey of 464 primary care physicians in six primarily African-American communities (Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD; Cleveland, OH; New Orleans, LA, St. Louis, MO; Memphis, TN). Due to inclusion criteria, the participants may not respresent the average primary care physician in terms of patient population or level of CKD knowledge.

The 2003 NKDEP physician survey of 464 primary care physicians (7.6% response rate) in six primarily African-American communities (Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD; Cleveland, OH; New Orleans, LA, St. Louis, MO; Memphis, TN) (Lea, McClellan, Melcher, Gladstone, & Hostetter, 2006) included physicians identifying family practice, general practice, or general internal medicine as their specialty and patient populations that were at least 20% diabetic and/or hypertensive. The survey consisted of asking the physician: “Please indicate how much you believe the following risk factors increases a patient’s risk for CKD, ie, CKD or chronic renal insufficiency?,” with possible responses of “does not increase risk,” “slightly increases risk,” “moderately increases risk,” or “greatly increases risk.” Risk factors included African-American race/ethnicity, family history, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. Additionally, physicians were asked: “Of the following guidelines, which have influenced your practices and procedures for treatment of CKD?,” with possible responses of “yes” or “no” to guidelines including the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Position Statement on Nephropathy, the Sixth Joint National Committee Report (JNC-VI), and the Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (KDOQI).