The F-SWIFT Project : Electronic Collection of Symptoms and Quality of Life in Dialysis Patients

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a growing public health challenge, affecting approximately 10% of the global population, and it could become one of the five leading causes of death worldwide by 2040. When the kidneys can no longer perform their vital functions, treatment with dialysis or kidney transplantation becomes necessary.

The F-SWIFT project focuses on the low health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and the insufficiently recognized symptom burden among patients treated with dialysis, a major issue in the management of chronic kidney disease. Dialysis patients often rate their perceived health status at only 40–60% of optimal health, and many symptoms remain inadequately detected and managed.

The F-SWIFT randomized trial, embedded within the REIN registry (the national registry of patients with CKD at the stage of kidney replacement therapy), aims to evaluate whether systematic, structured electronic collection of patient-reported outcomes (PROs), combined with organized feedback to healthcare teams, can improve HRQoL at 12 months in dialysis patients. The project will also analyze the implementation mechanisms of the intervention (contexts, processes, and impacts), and a cost–utility health economic evaluation will be conducted at 12 months.

For the first time in France, F-SWIFT will deploy a sustainable electronic collection of PROs using tablets among dialysis patients, with the aim of demonstrating the feasibility of long-term integration into clinical registries and routine practice.

This innovation seeks to strengthen patient–provider communication and to promote improvements in services, quality of care, and population health research.

The project is coordinated by Mathilde Prezelin-Reydit for the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, in collaboration with the Nancy University Hospital (CHRU de Nancy) (Prof. Francis Guillemin – principal investigator of the study, and Prof. Luc Frimat – coordinator for the Grand Est region) and the French Biomedicine Agency (Dr. Cécile Couchoud – national coordinator of the REIN registry). It is supported by funding of over one million euros obtained through the MESSIDORE 2022 call for projects

contact at the BPH : mathilde.prezelin@u-bordeaux.fr