Acute kidney injury (AKI) has been implicated as an independent risk factor for the
development of CKD in recent observational studies. The presumption in the nephrology
community is that this association represents a causal relationship. However, because of
potential problems related to residual confounding (shared risk factors), ascertainment bias
(sicker patients have more follow-up assessments), misclassification of exposure (problems
with defining baseline kidney function and AKI representing a discrete event versus …