Cystatin C improves the diagnosis and stratification of chronic kidney disease, and the estimation of glomerular filtration rate in diabetes

Abstract

Aims Estimation of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is recommended to diagnose and stratify chronic kidney disease (CKD). Can cystatin-C (cysC) assay improve the results in diabetic patients? Methods In 124 diabetic patients with a wide range of GFR, as determined by 51Cr-EDTA clearance (i-GFR), we estimated ‘e-GFR’ by: the recommended Cockcroft–Gault (CG) formula and Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) study equation; the new Mayo Clinic quadratic (MCQ) equation; the recently proposed composite estimation including both serum creatinine and cysC; and a simplified approach dividing the MDRD by cysC if less than 1.10 mg/L. Results The highest diagnostic accuracy (receiver operating characteristic [ROC] curves) and the highest proportions of well-stratified patients were obtained by cysC and the MDRD which, however, underestimated i-GFR for patients without CKD (−17%, P < 0.001). The CG overestimated GFR in KDOQI stages 1 and 2, ignored stage 5 and was the least accurate. The MCQ equation overrepresented stage 2, overestimating GFR at this stage (+23%, P < 0.005). The composite estimation (54.7 ± 27.0 mL per minute 1.73 m 2) correlated best with i-GFR (56.1 ± 35.3; r = 0.90, P < 0.001), and did not significantly differ from it across the entire population and within each Kidney Disease Outcome Quality Initiative (KDOQI) stage but was also biased (Bland–Altman procedure). Simply dividing the MDRD by cysC if less than 1.10 mg/L produced a comparable performance and eliminated the bias. Conclusion The recommended creatinine-based estimations of GFR need to be improved. CysC assay helps in the diagnosis and stratification of CKD and leads to better estimates of GFR in diabetic patients without any substantial increase in complexity.