Proteinuria predicts mortality in kidney patients

Proteinuria is a useful predictor of outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease, a new study found. A Canadian cohort study included more than 900,000 adults who had at least one outpatient serum creatinine measurement and did not require dialysis at baseline. Data were gathered in a 2002–2007 registry that included estimated glomerular filtration rates (eGFRs) and proteinuria measurements. The study was published in the Feb. 3 issue of JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association. The study showed that patients with heavy proteinuria and normal eGFR have worse outcomes than those with moderately reduced eGFR and no proteinuria. Although current guidelines call for staging chronic kidney disease (CKD) based on eGFR, they should perhaps be revised, given that use of that measurement alone may miss clinically relevant gradients in risk.