Necosad stands for: Nederlands Co-operative Study Adequacy of Dialysis (treatment). It is an extensive scientific research project financed by the Kidney Foundation and the government. Almost all of the dialysis centers in Holland were participating in this research.

Necosad was started in 1993, as a feasibility study for a two-year period of 250 patients from 13 centers, and was financed by the Dutch Kidney Foundation. On the basis of this pilot study, Necosad-1, a more extensive study involving 1500 patients was started in 1997, Necosad-2. More than 40 Dutch dialysis centers participated in this study. Necosad was an initiative of the Dialysis Group Netherlands, which towards the end of 2002 was absorbed by the Netherlands federation for Nephrology (NfN).

Objectives of Necosad.

1. Analysis of the factors determining the outcome of dialysis. Were the disappointing results caused especially by patient characteristics (such as age and comorbidity) or was it particularly the dialysis therapy itself that was to blame?
2. Tests and development of guidelines for optimal dialysis
3. Contributions to the quality of therapy, for instance through feedback of center-specific results and the development of benchmarks for clinical and therapy characteristics

The final report of the Necosad study can be found here.