SHARP showed a significant decrease in major atherosclerotic events with simvastatin and ezetimibe compared with placebo in dialysis-dependent and non-dialysis-dependent patients. The overall objective for the guideline is to advise about the management of dyslipidemia and use of cholesterol- lowering medications in adults and children with known CKD. Questions addressed by the guideline include how and when to assess lipid status, and how and when to prescribe lipid-lowering treatment in the target population. The target audience of the guideline includes nephrologists, primary care physicians, non-nephrology specialists (e.g., cardiologists, diabetologists, etc), clinical chemists and other practitioners caring for adults and children with CKD worldwide. The guideline is also expected to be suitable for use in public policy and other healthcare arenas. As a global guideline it is sensitive to issues related to ethnicity and geographical considerations and is written for use in different health care settings. The Work Group included an international group of kidney specialists, diabetologists, cardiologists, epidemiolo- gists, lipidologists and a professional evidence review team introduction http://www.kidney-international.org & 2013 KDIGO (ERT) who provided support. Details of the methods used by the ERT are described in Methods for Guideline Development section, along with the systematic searches for areas identified by Work Group members and performed by the ERT. Research recommendations are described to inform ongoing research agendas in the international community. The recommendations and statements created herein will serve to direct both care and research in the next decade. Several statements in this guideline have obtained a high grade according to the international system, Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE). This document is not intended to serve as a textbook of medicine or nephrology. 