A study of African Americans living with HIV has found that the commonly used method for estimating kidney function is overestimating how well their kidneys are working. Their estimated kidney function was less accurate when race was included in the calculations than when their race was omitted. Results were especially inaccurate when the participants had a non-suppressed viral load. These estimates are used in clinical practice to make decisions about antiretroviral medications, to diagnose kidney disease and to refer to specialist kidney doctors, so inaccuracies could have a huge impact on healthcare.
Directly measuring kidney function is a long and expensive process, which would not be feasible for everyday practice. For decades clinicians have been using estimates of kidney function to guide clinical practice. Usually this is done using blood measurements of the protein creatinine and sometimes also a protein called cystatin C. Both these proteins are usually filtered by the kidneys, so when the kidneys are not working well, levels in the blood rise.
Read the full story at Aidsmap.
Source : Aidsmap
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