Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32268897›Full record

Trial reportBMC medicine2020

Clinical and cost-effectiveness of oral sodium bicarbonate therapy for older patients with chronic kidney disease and low-grade acidosis (BiCARB): a pragmatic randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

BiCARB study group

Open access · goldAbstract readMulticenter StudyRandomized Controlled TrialPragmatic Clinical Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in BMC medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
37citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
7.1field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

37 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 76 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Effects of dietary interventions for metabolic acidosis in chronic kidney disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Nephrology, dialysis, transplantation : official publication of the European Dialysis and Transplant Association - European Renal Association · 2025
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  7. Association between serum bicarbonate and low mid-upper arm circumference in patients with non-dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease: A cross-sectional study.Nutrition in clinical practice : official publication of the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition · 2026
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  17. Care of Adults with Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024
    Review
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  19. Risk factors for hip and vertebral fractures in chronic kidney disease: the CRIC study.Journal of bone and mineral research : the official journal of the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research · 2024
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

BiCARB study group
NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre · GB

Funding

Chief Scientist Office HERU1Chief Scientist Office HSRU1Department of Health 10/71/01National Institute for Health Research 10/71/01
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundChronic kidney disease with metabolic acidosis is common in older people, but the effectiveness of oral sodium bicarbonate therapy in this group is unclear. We tested whether oral sodium bicarbonate provides net health benefit for older people with advanced chronic kidney disease and serum bicarbonate concentrations < 22 mmol/L.

methodsPragmatic multicentre, parallel group, double-blind, placebo-controlled randomised trial. We recruited adults aged ≥ 60 years with estimated glomerular filtration rate of < 30 mL/min/1.73 m

resultsWe randomised 300 participants between May 2013 and February 2017, mean age 74 years, 86 (29%) female. At 12 months, 116/152 (76%) participants allocated to bicarbonate and 104/148 (70%) allocated to placebo were assessed; primary outcome data were available for 187 participants. We found no significant treatment effect for the SPPB: bicarbonate arm 8.3 (SD 2.5) points, placebo arm 8.8 (SD 2.2) and adjusted treatment effect - 0.4 (95% CI - 0.9 to 0.1, p = 0.15). We found no significant treatment effect for glomerular filtration rate (0.6 mL/min/1.73 m

conclusionsOral sodium bicarbonate did not improve physical function or renal function, increased adverse events and is unlikely to be cost-effective for use by the UK NHS for this patient group.

trial registrationEuropean Clinical Trials Database (2011-005271-16) and ISRCTN09486651; registered 17 February 2012.

Indexed as

AcidosisAgedBicarbonatesBiomarkersCost-Benefit AnalysisDouble-Blind MethodFemaleHumansMaleQuality of LifeRenal Insufficiency, ChronicSodium BicarbonateBicarbonatesBiomarkersSodium BicarbonateAcidosisRandomised controlled trialRenal insufficiency, chronicSodium bicarbonate

Identifiers

PMID32268897
PMCPMC7144058
OpenAlexW3008218273

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.