The goal to publish in such journals can be achieved by designing a study that fulfils a number of requirements for entering such journals, provided that the results are meaningful to the scientific community. Sometimes these studies are designed and prepared over years and they are expensive (i.e. placebo controlled randomized large scale cardiovascular endpoint studies usually cost more than 100 Million Euro).

The QUEST initiative work group members defined five goals that should be achieved when designing an adequate study. They felt that the study (1) should take advantage of the data gathering by the Registry, (2) should be prospective, randomized and controlled, (3) should contain an intervention, and (4) should not rely on uncertain or surrogate endpoint marker and (5) should be doable with a reasonable budget.

Successful efforts have been made since first QUEST Toledo convention approximately 5 months ago. A study protocol has been worked out assigning 5400 haemodialysis patients above 60 years of age to a group of conventional care and a group undergoing intensive care. A time schedule has been set up and protocol finalisation, IRB approval, centre recruitment and on site or centralized study personal training should happen over the next 6-8 months. Steps will be undertaken to achieve international study registration and to publish the design in Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation as the representative Journal of the Society. 2006 will be the year of t he ERA-EDTAs first multinational, multicentre clinical outcome trial. For further information send an expression of interest to wanner_c@medizin.uni-wuerzburg.de .