Age and Ageing Advance Access published online on December 14, 2007
Age and Ageing, doi:10.1093/ageing/afm180
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Detecting chronic kidney disease in older people; what are the implications?
1 University of Southampton, Public Health Sciences and Medical Statistics, Southampton, UK
2 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Epidemiology, London, UK
3 University of Nottingham, Epidemiology, Nottingham, UK
4 Imperial College Hammersmith Campus, Care of the Elderly, London, UK
Address correspondence to: Paul J. Roderick. Email: pjr{at}soton.ac.uk
Background: national policy is focused on early identification, referral and management of chronic kidney disease (CKD) to prevent both progression to endstage renal failure and cardiovascular disease. However, the significance of identifying CKD in older people is unclear.
Objective: to determine the frequency of CKD in older people using estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), and its associations with morbidity and functional measures.
Design: observational cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from a large cluster randomised trial of health and social assessment of older people in the community.
Setting: included 53 general practices in Great Britain.
Subjects: subjects were people aged 75 and over, living in the community participating in the trial arm where systematic blood testing was undertaken.
Methods: the response rate for participation at baseline assessment of those eligible was 73% (15,536/20,934), of whom 13,109 (86%) participants had a serum creatinine measured, and an eGFR derivable using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease formula (MDRD) in ml/min/1.73 m2. Key outcomes were the prevalence of CKD stages and their associations with morbidity and functional status.
Results: prevalence of CKD was 56.1% (95% CI 55.3–57.0) for eGFR < 60, 17.7% for eGFR < 45 (95% CI 17.1–18.4), and 2.7% (95% CI 2.4–2.9) for eGFR < 30. It was higher in older ages, females, and those with cardiovascular comorbidity and doctor-diagnosed hypertension but not with diabetes. The strength of the association with measures of morbidity and functional impairment increased as eGFR fell, especially once the eGFR was < 45. For example, the odds ratios in males for anaemia for an eGFR < 30, 30–44 and 45–59 versus reference GFR > 60 were 8.3 (5.1–13.7), 3.0 (2.1–4.2) and 1.2(0.8–1.7) respectively; similar figures for partial dependence on activities of daily living were 2.2 (1.4–3.3), 1.6 (1.2–2.1) and 1.0 (0.9–1.3) and for lack of physical activity 2.20 (1.39–3.48), 1.78 (1.37–2.32) and 1.10 (0.92–1.32).
Conclusions: an eGFR < 60 is very common in older people. An eGFR < 45 identifies a smaller sub-group of older people with significant comorbidity, impaired functional state and a high risk of potentially reversible consequences such as anaemia. The benefits of identifying older people with an eGFR > 45 need to be determined.
Keywords: chronic kidney failure, prevalence, aged
Received 23 April 2007; accepted in revised form 7 September 2007.
![]()
CiteULike
Connotea
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
P. Ferrari, J. Xiao, A. Ukich, and A. Irish Estimation of glomerular filtration rate: does haemoglobin discriminate between ageing and true CKD? Nephrol. Dial. Transplant., June 1, 2009; 24(6): 1828 - 1833. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
B. Conway, A. Webster, G. Ramsay, N. Morgan, J. Neary, C. Whitworth, and J. Harty Predicting mortality and uptake of renal replacement therapy in patients with stage 4 chronic kidney disease Nephrol. Dial. Transplant., June 1, 2009; 24(6): 1930 - 1937. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D. Nitsch, A. Mylne, P. J. Roderick, L. Smeeth, R. Hubbard, and A. Fletcher Chronic kidney disease and hip fracture-related mortality in older people in the UK Nephrol. Dial. Transplant., May 1, 2009; 24(5): 1539 - 1544. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
E. Noble, D. W. Johnson, N. Gray, P. Hollett, C. M. Hawley, S. B. Campbell, D. W. Mudge, and N. M. Isbel The impact of automated eGFR reporting and education on nephrology service referrals Nephrol. Dial. Transplant., December 1, 2008; 23(12): 3845 - 3850. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
G. Lippi, G. Targher, G. L. Salvagno, M. Montagnana, and G. C. Guidi Detecting of chronic kidney disease in older people by the MDRD and MCQ formulas Age Ageing, November 1, 2008; 37(6): 722 - 722. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||

