Professional Interests

Matthew Abramowitz, M.D., M.S. completed his medical education at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and internal medicine residency at Montefiore Medical Center, where he was a Chief Resident.  He remained at Montefiore Einstein for nephrology fellowship and earned a Masters in Clinical Research through Einstein’s Clinical Research Training Program.  He is currently Associate Professor of Medicine at Einstein.  He is the recipient of a Career Development Award from the Montefiore Einstein Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, a Carl Gottschalk Research Scholar Grant from the American Society of Nephrology, and K23 and R01 awards from the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Abramowitz’s research focuses on the effects of chronic kidney disease on skeletal muscle physiology and physical function. Additional interests include chronic metabolic acidosis, including its sequelae and treatment approaches in patients with chronic kidney disease. His work employs both observational and interventional study designs and translational methods including skeletal muscle biopsies and transcriptomic analysis of skeletal muscle. Current areas of investigation include pathology his group has identified in adults with chronic kidney disease: altered muscle regeneration and fibrosis, and gait abnormalities which associate with fall risk and cognitive impairment.

Selected Publications

Shah SN, Abramowitz M, Hostetter TH, Melamed ML. Serum bicarbonate levels and the progression of kidney disease: a cohort study.  American Journal of Kidney Diseases 2009 Aug;54(2):270-277

Abramowitz M, Muntner P, Coco M, Southern W, Lotwin I, Hostetter TH, Melamed ML. Serum alkaline phosphatase and phosphate and risk of mortality and hospitalization. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology 5: 1064-1071, 2010

Bauer C, Abramowitz M, Hostetter TH. Is angiotensin blockade indicated in the elderly? Nature Reviews Nephrology 2010 Jan; 6(1): 11-12

Abramowitz MK, Hostetter TH, Melamed ML. Association of serum bicarbonate levels with gait speed and quadriceps strength in older adults. American Journal of Kidney Diseases 58: 29-38, 2011

Skversky AL, Kumar J, Abramowitz MK, Kaskel FJ, Melamed ML. Association of glucocorticoid use and low 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels: results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES): 2001-2006. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 96:3838-3845, 2011

Turner J, Bauer C, Abramowitz MK, Melamed ML, Hostetter TH. Treatment of chronic kidney disease. Kidney Int 81: 351-362, 2012

Abramowitz MK, Hostetter TH, Melamed ML. Lower serum bicarbonate and a higher anion gap are associated with lower cardiorespiratory fitness in young adults. Kidney Int 81:1033-42, 2012

Abramowitz MK, Hostetter TH, Melamed ML. Serum anion gap, kidney function, and mortality in US adults. Kidney Int 82: 701-709, 2012

Abramowitz MK, Melamed ML, Bauer C, Raff AC, Hostetter TH. Effects of oral sodium bicarbonate in patients with CKD. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology 8:714-20, 2013

Chen W, Abramowitz MK. Treatment of Metabolic Acidosis in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease. American Journal of Kidney Diseases 63: 311-317, 2014

Amodu A, Abramowitz MK. Dietary acid, age, and serum bicarbonate levels among adults in the United States. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology 8:2034-42, 2013

Chen W, Abramowitz MK. Metabolic acidosis and the progression of chronic kidney disease. BMC Nephrology 15:55, 2014  

Abramowitz MK. Acid-base balance and physical function. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 9:2030-2, 2014

Sharma D, Hawkins M, Abramowitz MK. Association of sarcopenia with eGFR and misclassification of obesity in adults with chronic kidney disease in the United States. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 9:2079-88, 2014

Chen W, Melamed ML, Abramowitz MK. Serum bicarbonate and bone mineral density in United States adults. American Journal of Kidney Diseases, 65:240-248, 2015

Huston HK, Abramowitz MK, Zhang Y, Greene T, Raphael KL. Net endogenous acid production and mortality in NHANES III. Nephrology, 20:209-15, 2015

Sarathy H, Pramanik V, Kahn J, Abramowitz MK, Meier K, Kishore P, Melamed ML. The effects of short-term vitamin D supplementation on glucose metabolism in dialysis patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.  Int Urol Nephrol, 47:537-49, 2015

Patel R, Paredes W, Hall CB, Nader MA, Sapkota D, Folkert VW, Abramowitz MK. Variability in monthly serum bicarbonate measures in hemodialysis patients: a cohort study. BMC Nephrology, 16:214, 2015

Sarathy H, Henriquez G, Abramowitz MK, Kramer H, Rosas SE, Johns T, Kumar J, Skversky A, Kaskel FJ, Melamed ML. Abdominal Obesity, Race and Chronic Kidney Disease in Young Adults: Results from NHANES 1999-2010. PLOS One, 11(5): e0153588, 2016

Liang E, Rodriguez M, Mueller M, Abramowitz MK, Mokrzycki MH. Outcomes associated with a heparin-free hemodialysis protocol and review of the literature. Journal of Clinical Nephrology and Renal Care, 2:010, 2016

Chen W, Melamed ML, Hostetter TH, Bauer C, Raff AC, Almudevar AL, Lalonde A, Messing S, Abramowitz MK. Effect of Oral Sodium Bicarbonate on Fibroblast Growth Factor-23 in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease: A Pilot Study. BMC Nephrology, 17:114, 2016

Abramowitz MK, Sharma D, Folkert VW. Hidden obesity in dialysis patients: clinical implications. Seminars in Dialysis, 29:391-395, 2016

Androga L, Sharma D, Amodu A, Abramowitz MK. Sarcopenia, obesity, and mortality in US adults with and without chronic kidney disease. Kidney International Reports, 2:201-211, 2017

Blanco I, Labitigan M, Abramowitz MK. The Association Between Anti-Nuclear Antibodies and Obesity is Likely Mediated by Abdominal Adiposity and Systemic Inflammation. Journal of Clinical & Cellular Immunology, 8:4, 2017

Abramowitz MK. HCO₃ balance and prescription in ESRD. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 28:726-734, 2017

Abramowitz MK, Hall CB, Amodu A, Sharma D, Androga A, Hawkins M. Muscle mass, BMI, and mortality among adults in the United States: A population-based cohort study. PLOS One, 13(4): e0194697, 2018

Chen W, Anokhina V, Miller B, Dieudonne G; Abramowitz MK, Kashyap R, Yan C, Wu TT, Bentley KL, Bushinsky DA. Patients with Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease and Vascular Calcification Have a Large Hydrodynamic Radius of Secondary Calciprotein Particles. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, 34(6):992-1000, 2019

Scialla JJ, Brown L, Gurley S, Corcoran DL, Bain JR, Muehlbauer MJ, O’Neal SK, O’Connell T, Wolf M, Melamed ML, Hostetter TH, Abramowitz MK. Metabolic impact of base-loading in chronic kidney disease. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 13:1244-1246, 2018

Abramowitz MK. Metabolic Acidosis and Cardiovascular Disease Risk in CKD. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 13:1451-1452, 2018

Lee JA, Abramowitz MK, Kipperman N, Drzewiecki BA, Melamed ML, Stern JM. Exploring the Association of Asthma with Urinary Stone Disease: Results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007-2014. European Urology Focus, 2018 Aug 7 epub ahead of print

Abramowitz MK, Paredes W, Zhang K, Brightwell CR, Newsom JN, Kwon H, Custodio M, Buttar RS, Farooq H, Zaidi B, Pai R, Pessin JE, Hawkins M, Fry CS. Skeletal muscle fibrosis is associated with decreased muscle inflammation and weakness in patients with chronic kidney disease. American Journal of Physiology - Renal Physiology. 315(6):F1658-1669, 2018

Watts KL, Srivastava A, Lin W, Schoenfeld D, Abramowitz M, Stern JM: Baseline chronic kidney disease does not predict long-term renal functional decline after percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Urolithiasis, 2019 Feb 12, epub ahead of print

Tran J, Ayers E, Verghese J, Abramowitz MK. Gait abnormalities and the risk of falls in chronic kidney disease. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 14:983-993, 2019

Chen W, Eisenberg R, Mowrey WB, Wylie-Rosett J, Abramowitz MK, Bushinsky DA, Melamed ML. Association between dietary zinc intake and abdominal aortic calcification in US adults. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, 2019 Jul 11, Epub ahead of print

Melamed ML, Horwitz EJ, Dobre MA, Abramowitz MK, Zhang L, Lo Y, Mitch WE, Hostetter TH. The effects of sodium bicarbonate in chronic kidney disease stages 3 and 4: a randomized, placebo-control, multi-center clinical trial. American Journal of Kidney Diseases, 75(2):225-234, 2020

Ho JQ, Verghese J, Abramowitz MK. Walking while talking in older adults with chronic kidney disease. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 15(5):665-672, 2020

Abramowitz MK. Defining acid-base status in hemodialysis – is bicarbonate enough? Kidney Medicine, 2(1):1-2, 2020

Park S, Paredes W, Custodio M, Goel N, Sapkota D, Bandla A, Lynn RI, Reddy SM, Hostetter TH, Abramowitz MK. Intradialytic acid-base changes and organic anion production during high versus low bicarbonate hemodialysis. American Journal of Physiology - Renal Physiology, 318(6):F1418-F1429, 2020

Brown DD, Roem J, Ng DK, Reidy KJ, Kumar J, Abramowitz MK, Mak RH, Furth SL, Schwartz GJ, Warady BA, Kaskel FJ, Melamed ML. Low serum bicarbonate and CKD progression in children. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 15(6):755-765, 2020

Koren MJ, Blumen HM, Ayers EI, Verghese J, Abramowitz MK. Cognitive dysfunction and gait abnormalities in CKD. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 16(5):694-704, 2021

Lambert DC, Abramowitz MK. Obesity and the Risk of Low Bicarbonate: A Cohort Study. Kidney Medicine, published online April 15, 2021