The usual glomerular filtration rate (GFR) threshold could be applied for predicting patient outcomes based on measured (mGFR) values, a retrospective observational cohort study indicated.
Among 6,174 patients, a baseline mGFR of 60 mL/min/1.73 m² was tied to higher rates of all-cause mortality (HR 1.21, 95% CI 1.14-1.28) and kidney failure with replacement therapy (HR 2.85, 95% CI 2.06-3.94) compared with an mGFR of 90 mL/min/1.73 m².
"These findings support the current GFR thresholds by showing that, compared with an mGFR of 90 mL/min/1.73 m2, adverse outcomes were increased at mGFR levels of 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 and rose progressively at lower levels of 45, 30, and 15 mL/min/1.73 m2," Edouard Fu, PhD, of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and colleagues wrote in JAMA. "Adverse outcomes were not consistently increased for mGFR values of 75 mL/min/1.73 m2."
The findings were simultaneously presented at the European Renal Association (ERA) annual congress in Glasgow.
A GFR threshold of 60 mL/min/1.73 m² or less has been used for years to define chronic kidney disease (CKD) because it represents half of normal kidney function in young adults and is tied to adverse outcomes compared with values of 90 mL/min/1.73 m², Fu's group noted.
