The GCKD-Study is aimed at achieving broad comprehension of disease progresssion and gaining further knowledge in cooperation with other international cohort projects in renal populations.
Existing collaborations comprise:

• national cohort-study in the USA (CRIC = Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort; Leiter: Dr. Harv Feldman, Philadelphia) initiated in 2003, approx. 4000 Patients enrolled
• national cohort-study in Japan (CKD-JAC = Chronic Kidney Disease-Japan Cohort; Leiter: Dr. Enuy Imai, Nagoya) initiated in 200..,approx. 3000 Patients enrolled
• national cohort-study in India
  (ICKD = Indian Chronic Kidney Disease Study, PI: Dr. Seema Baid-Agrawal, Berlin, Dr. V.Jha , Chandigarh), expected to be initiated in 2012, approx. 5000 patients planned

The inclusion criteria and the structure of these studies are similar. Especially, the definitions of disease entities, the diagnoses and the endpoints have been designed along the lines of the CRIC-study to achieve comparability and allow pooled analyses with increased statistical power, and open the possibilities of comparing risk factors and disease progression in different racial, cultural and ethnical backgrounds.