Basics of clinical investigation

How can we best evaluate, treat, and assess long-term risks for children with kidney disease? Who is at risk of developing end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in childhood or young adulthood? Clinicians are often faced with questions such as these with uncertain answers in the practice of pediatric nephrology. Parents ask, “Why did my child get this disease?” “What is the most effective method to treat this condition?” “What’s the prognosis of this condition in my child?” Frequently, these answers are not known, and these questions are the inspiration for high-quality clinical research. The first step in developing a valuable clinical study is determining whether the initial query can be translated into a good research question.