Comparison of Various Equations for Estimating GFR in Malawi: How to Determine Renal Function in Resource Limited Settings?

<div><p>Background</p><p>Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a probably underrated public health problem in Sub-Saharan-Africa, in particular in combination with HIV-infection. Knowledge about the CKD prevalence is scarce and in the available literature different methods to classify CKD are used impeding comparison and general prevalence estimates.</p><p>Methods</p><p>This study assessed different serum-creatinine based equations for glomerular filtration rates (eGFR) and compared them to a cystatin C based equation. The study was conducted in Lilongwe, Malawi enrolling a population of 363 adults of which 32% were HIV-positive.</p><p>Results</p><p>Comparison of formulae based on Bland-Altman-plots and accuracy revealed best performance for the CKD-EPI equation without the correction factor for black Americans. Analyzing the differences between HIV-positive and –negative individuals CKD-EPI systematically overestimated eGFR in comparison to cystatin C and therefore lead to underestimation of CKD in HIV-positives.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>Our findings underline the importance for standardization of eGFR calculation in a Sub-Saharan African setting, to further investigate the differences with regard to HIV status and to develop potential correction factors as established for age and sex.</p>