CKD-EPI Equations for Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR)
Estimates GFR in CKD patients using serum creatinine, cystatin C, or both.
The 2021 CKD-EPI equation is now the recommended standard. This version does not include race, as do the 2009 and 2012 CKD-EPI creatinine and creatinine-cystatin C equations. See here for more on our approach to addressing race and bias on MDCalc.
With the 2021 equation, for the same creatinine value, the 2021 equation will estimate a lower GFR for Black patients and a higher GFR for non-Black patients.
For use in patients with stable kidney function. While the combined creatinine and cystatin C equation can add accuracy, cystatin c is not available in all laboratories and the creatinine-based equation is adequate for many clinical purposes.
2021 CKD-EPI creatinine is currently recommended by the ASN and NKF for GFR reporting in the United States.
Result:
Andrew S. Levey, MD, is the chief of the nephrology division at Tufts Medical Center and the Dr. Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine. His clinical interests include chronic kidney disease (CKD), diabetic kidney disease, and systemic lupus erythematosus. Dr. Levey’s research focuses on laboratory measures to estimate kidney function, new therapies, and the development of clinical practice guidelines for CKD.
Lesley A. Inker, MD, MS, is an associate professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, an attending physician in the William B. Schwartz, MD Division of Nephrology at Tufts Medical Center, and medical director of the Kidney And Blood Pressure Center at Tufts Medical Center in Massachusetts. Dr. Inker's primary research interests are in GFR measurement and estimation, alternative endpoints for clinical trials of kidney disease progression, and epidemiology and outcomes related to CKD.
The CKD Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) is a research group with interests in measurement and estimation of GFR (CKD-EPI GFR) and evaluation of surrogate endpoints for clinical trials in CKD (CKD-EPI CT). CKD-EPI was founded by Dr. Andrew S. Levey who served as Director from 2004 to 2018 and continues to serve as co-director. Dr. Lesley A. Inker has been the Director of the Data Coordinating Center (DCC) from 2004 and Co-Director since 2018.
- Evan Zeitler, MD
- Omar Aziz, MD