KEY POINTS
For many years, the universally used equation for estimating risk of kidney disease (the kidney function estimate, Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration [CKD-EPI] equation), included an adjustment for Black race that led to an upward correction in estimated glomerular
Researchers found that measuring levels of a protein called cystatin C can accurately estimate kidney function without needing to take race into account.
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Jordan Crowley was born with only one shrunken kidney to clean his blood. As he gets older, his one kidney gets sicker.
Jordan is now 18, loves dogs, and is more interested in telling me about his college classes than the fact that he was recently hospitalized for seizures, a complication of his illness. He’ll need a kidney transplant soon. He would be closer to getting that kidney transplant, if only he were categorized as white.
A patient’s level of kidney disease is judged by an estimation of glomerular filtration rate, or eGFR, which normally sits between 90 and 120 in a patient with two healthy kidneys. In the United States, patients can’t be listed for a kidney transplant until they’re deemed sick enough until their eGFR dips below a threshold of 20.