Estimated glomerular filtration rate in clinical practice: Consensus positioning of the Brazilian Society of Nephrology (SBN) and Brazilian Society of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (SBPC/ML).
Gianna Mastroianni KirsztajnGeraldo Bezerra da Silva JúniorArtur Quintiliano Bezerra da SilvaHugo AbensurJoão Egídio Romão JuniorMarcus Gomes BastosViviane Calice da SilvaLilian Pires de Freitas do CarmoTainá Veras de Sanders FreitasPatrícia Ferreira AbreuBruna Dolci AndreguettoLuiz Gustavo Ferreira CortesMaria Gabriela de Lucca OliveiraLuisane Maria Falci VieiraVinicius Daher Alvares DelfinoAdagmar AndrioloPublished in: Jornal brasileiro de nefrologia (2024)
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) represents one of today's main public health problems. Serum creatinine measurement and estimation of the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) are the main tools for evaluating renal function. There are several equations to estimate GFR, and CKD-EPI equation (Chronic Kidney Disease - Epidemiology) is the most recommended one. There are still some controversies regarding serum creatinine measurement and GFR estimation, since several factors can interfere in this process. An important recent change was the removal of the correction for race from the equations for estimating GFR, which overestimated kidney function, and consequently delayed the implementation of treatments such as dialysis and kidney transplantation. In this consensus document from the Brazilian Societies of Nephrology and Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, the main concepts related to the assessment of renal function are reviewed, as well as possible existing controversies and recommendations for estimating GFR in clinical practice.