Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD), represent a diagnostic challenge. CKD is an asymptomatic disease, tests for screening and early diagnoses are critical in nephrology.
Objectives: To assess the potential role of a three glomerular filtration rate (GFR) calculation equations in discriminating between stages of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Sudanese patients.
Methods: The study was carried out at Khartoum State, Sudan from July 2017 to August 2017. Three hundred and seventy-five (375) CKD patients aged 18–90, their GFR have been estimated by three equations as follows: combined creatinine (cr) and cystatin C (cysC) equation (GFRcr-cysC), Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation (GFRcr) and CystatinC-based equation (GFRcysC). The discriminating ability between stages was tested by ROC analysis.
Results: The area under the receiver operating (AUC) curve values of the discriminated stages was tested by ROC analysis as the follows: between stage 1 and 2 were: GFRcr-cysC; 0.98 (p > 0.001), GFRcr; 0.77 (p < 0.001) and GFRcysC; 0.82 (p < 0.01). Between stage 2 and 3 were: GFRcr-cysC; 0.98 (p > 0. 001), GFR cr; 0.82 (p < 0.001) and GFRcysC; 0.89 (p < 0. 001). Between stage 3 and 4 were: GFRcr-cysC; 0.96 (p > 0. 001), GFRcr; 0.92 (p < 0.001) and GFRcysC; 0.67 (p < 0. 001). Between stage 4 and 5 were: GFRcr-cys; 0.99 (p > 0. 001), GFRcr; 0.95 (p < 0.001) and GFRcysC; 0.65 (p < 0. 001). GFRcr-cysC had the highest AUC of all.
Conclusion: Taking together, the study demonstrated that GFRcr-cysC equation is a valuable marker for early detection of CKD