Confusing eGFR calculation

[DaveThebe]

My lab uses the CKD-EPI creatinine equation (2009) to calculate Gfr. It allows for race, weight and height when calculating the gfr. My lab disregards all those and give my gfr as 66. I’m a black African. ( not all Africans are black by the way 🤪)

Now when I go to:

kidney.org/professionals/kd...

... and calculate my Gfr and include race, height and weight it gives me a Gfr if 95! When I exclude race but keep weight and height I get a Gfr of 85. Now which one is it and why does my lab chose to exclude all these other parameters?

[orangecity41]

Here is a link to detailed information on eGFR and diagnosis, which take into consideration other factors including age. annals.org/aim/fullarticle/...

Hope this is helpful.

[5157 in reply to orangecity41]

Thank you for this link. It was very i informative and helpful.

[DaveThebe in reply to orangecity41]

I’ve seen this before does not answer my question why some labs don’t include other factors like weight, age, height when calculating gfr

[mgdoble]

This is a great question, I've been meaning to ask the same thing. I have very similar numbers. A reading of 68 scared me a bit but this is based on an average person, when using calculators with age/weight brings me up to 90+.

[RickHow]

The situation you describe has aggravated me for years. I go to 5 different doctors. Oncologist, Urologist, Primary Care, Kidney, Cardiologist. They all measure egfr without consideration of height and weight. I always take my results and use the following calculator which does include those factors, at kidney.org/professionals/kd...

This ALWAYS gives me significantly higher results. These are more realistic. As the formula without considering those factors just is based on an "average" person of our age and race. Well hello, look around you, do you see any person of your race and age the is exactly like the other? NO.