Development and validation of GFR-estimating equations using diabetes, transplant and weight
Development and validation of GFR-estimating equations using diabetes, transplant and weight
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Received for publication: 3.5.09; Accepted in revised form: 7.9.09
Nephrol Dial Transplant (2010) 25: 449–457
doi: 10.1093/ndt/gfp510
Advance Access publication 30 September 2009
Development and validation of GFR-estimating equations using
diabetes, transplant and weight
Lesley A. Stevens1 , Christopher H. Schmid1 , Yaping L. Zhang1 , Josef Coresh2 , Jane Manzi2 ,
Richard Landis3 , Omran Bakoush4 , Gabriel Contreras5 , Saul Genuth6 , Goran B. Klintmalm7 ,
Emilio Poggio8 , Peter Rossing9 , Andrew D. Rule10 , Matthew R. Weir11 , John Kusek12 , Tom Greene13
and Andrew S. Levey1
1
Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, 2 Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, 3 University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine,
Philadelphia, PA, USA, 4 Lund University Hospital, Lund, Sweden, 5 University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL,
6
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, 7 Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, TX, 8 Cleveland Clinic Foundation,
Cleveland, OH, USA, 9 Steno Diabetes Center, Gentofte, Denmark, 10 Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, 11 University of Maryland Medical
Center, MD, 12 National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Bethesda, MD and 13 University of Utah, Salt Lake City,
UT, USA
Correspondence and offprint requests to: Lesley A. Stevens; E-mail:
Abstract
Background. We have reported a new equation (CKD-EPI
equation) that reduces bias and improves accuracy for GFR
estimation compared to the MDRD study equation while
using the same four basic predictor variables: creatinine,
age, sex and race. Here, we describe the development and
validation of this equation as well as other equations that
incorporate diabetes, transplant and weight as additional
predictor variables.
Methods. Linear regression was used to relate logmeasured GFR (mGFR) to sex, race, diabetes, transplant,
weight, various transformations of creatinine and age with
and without interactions. Equations were developed in a
pooled database of 10 studies [2/3 (N = 5504) for development and 1/3 (N = 2750) for internal validation], and final
model selection occurred in 16 additional studies [external
validation (N = 3896)].
Results. The mean mGFR was 68, 67 and 68 ml/min/
1.73 m2 in the development, internal validation and external validation datasets, respectively. In external validation,
an equation that included a linear age term and spline terms
in creatinine to account for a reduction in the magnitude of
the slope at low serum creatinine values exhibited the best
performance (bias = 2.5, RMSE = 0.250) among models
using the four basic predictor variables. Addition of terms
for diabetes and transplant did not improve performance.
Equations with weight showed a small improvement in the
subgroup with BMI <20 kg/m2 .
Conclusions. The CKD-EPI equation, based on creatinine,
age, sex and race, has been validated and is more accurate
than the MDRD study equation. The addition of weight, diabetes and transplant does not significantly improve equation
performance.
Keywords: creatinine; development; estimating equation; glomerular
filtration rate; validation
Introduction
Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is an important indicator
of kidney function, critical for detection, evaluation and
management of chronic kidney disease (CKD). GFR cannot be practically measured for routine clinical or research
purposes, and therefore, serum creatinine is often used to
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450
estimate GFR. Several factors affect the level of serum creatinine other than GFR, including the generation of creatinine from muscle metabolism. GFR-estimating equations,
such as the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD)
study equation, including age, sex and race, account for the
average differences in muscle mass among these subgroups
and have been shown to be a more accurate assessment of
the level of kidney function than serum creatinine alone.
National and international organizations recommend that
clinical laboratories report estimated GFR (eGFR) and that
clinicians use eGFR to evaluate kidney function for all patients [1–4].
This is now a considerable body of the literature demonstrating limitations in the performance of the MDRD study
equation in people with higher levels of GFR, such as
younger patients with diabetes [5–7]. A potential explanation for this limitation is that the MDRD study equation
was developed in people with CKD who did not have type
1 diabetes and who were not transplant recipients, who
may have differences in creatinine generation that are compared to the people who were included in the MDRD study
population that were not captured by the average values
for the regression coefficients for age, sex and race. We
hypothesized that the performance of the MDRD study
equation could be improved by a new equation developed
in a diverse study population including individuals with and
without diagnosed kidney disease, diabetes and transplants
that utilizes novel transformations of creatinine and age,
new predictor variables and pairwise interactions among its
predictor variables. Our goal was to develop an equation that
had improved performance at higher levels of GFR and had
consistent performance among subgroups based on clinical and demographic characteristics. We recently reported a
new equation, the CKD-EPI equation, based on creatinine,
age, sex and race, which is more accurate than the MDRD
study equation [8]. However, the precision of this equation
remains limited, in part due to non-GFR determinants of
serum creatinine that are not captured by creatinine level,
age, sex and race. Here, we report on the development and
validation of this equation as well as other equations that
were developed that also included diabetes, transplant and
weight as additional predictor variables.
Met (...truncated)