Is Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR) a Better Predictor than Creatinine Cutoff to Detect Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) with diabetes mellitus is one of the most common and major public health problems globally. In Bangladesh, several studies indicate an increasing prevalence of diabetes though very few studies are available on CKD. For CKD, diagnostic method, criteria or cutoffs still remained undecided. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of CKD among the hospitalized patients and to compare the diagnostic approach practiced in the hospital. Methods: All patients admitted to the Department of Nephrology at BIRDEM from May 1 to July 31, 2012 were selected for investigation. An almost equal number of patients were also selected from other units of Medicine. The information included were age, sex, social class, blood pressure, height, weight, blood glucose, creatinine, triglycerides, total cholesterol, high-density lipoproteins and electrolytes. The CKD creat was diagnosed based on creatinine (>1.2mg/dl) and the CKD gfr based on estimated GFR ( 1.2 mg/dl) groups. Similar comparisons were also made between CKD gfr and non-CKD gfr (>60 vs. ≤ 60 ml/min/1.732) groups. Results: A total of 4172 patients got admitted in the study period of 90 days; and 442 patients (m / f = 256 / 186) were investigated. Of the total (n=4172), 241 (5.8%) had CKDcreat and 272 (6.5%) had CKD gfr . Of the investigated 442 patients, 241 (54.5%) had CKD creat and 272 (61.5%) had CKD gfr . The differences of characteristics between CKD creat and non-CKD creat groups were almost similar to the differences between CKD gfr and non-CKD gfr groups. Higher age, higher social class and higher blood pressure showed significant (p 1.2 mg/dl and CKD gfr : <90 ml/min/1.73 2 ). Thus, a large proportion remained either under- or over-diagnosed depending on the criterion used. Conclusion: The prevalence of CKD among the hospitalized patients was found not negligible. The comparisons of two diagnostic criteria did differ and eGFR (K/DOQI) could detect higher proportion of CKD, which might be an over-diagnosis. Further study taking microalbuminuria, gross proteinuria, albumin-creatinine ratio and cystatin C may validate the method for the diagnostic accuracy of CKD, which my help assessing the prevalence of CKD accurately. Ibrahim Med. Coll. J. 2014; 8(2): 50-55