Estimation of Glomerular Filtration Rate in Elderly Chronic Kidney Disease Patients: Comparison of Three Novel Sophisticated Equations and Simple Cystatin C Equation

Abstract Estimating glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in elderly patients is a problem, since they are poorly represented in studies developing GFR equations. Serum cystatin C is a better indicator of GFR than serum creatinine in elderly patients. Therefore the aim of our study was to compare frequently used serum cystatin C based GFR equations with a gold standard (51CrEDTA clearance) in elderly chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. 106 adult Caucasian patients, older than 65 years (58 women, 48 men; mean age 72.5 years), were included. In each patient 51CrEDTA clearance, serum creatinine (IDMS traceable method) and serum cystatin C (immunonephelometric method) were determined. GFR was estimated using the Simple cystatin C, CKD‐EPI cystatin C, CKD‐EPI creatinine‐cystatin C and BIS2 equation. Mean serum creatinine of our patients was 141.4 ± 41.5 μmol/L, mean serum cystatin C 1.79 ± 0.6 mg/L, mean 51CrEDTA clearance was 52.2 ± 15.9 mL/min per 1.73 m2. Statistically significant correlations between 51CrEDTA clearance and all formulas were found (P < 0.0001). In the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis (cut‐off for GFR 45 mL/min per 1.73 m2) no significant differences in diagnostic accuracy between all the before mentioned equations were found. Bland‐Altman analysis for the same cut‐off showed that CKD‐EPI creatinine‐cystatin C and BIS2 equation underestimated and CKD‐EPI cystatin C and Simple cystatin C equation overestimated measured GFR. All equations lacked precision. Analysis of ability to correctly predict patient's GFR below or above 45 mL/min per 1.73 m2 showed similar ability for all equations (P = 0.24–0.89). All equations are equally accurate for estimating GFR in elderly Caucasian CKD patients. For daily practice Simple cystatin C equation is most practical.