WEDNESDAY, March 30, 2005 (HealthDay News) -- Routine laboratory tests, conducted for a variety of reasons, could help identify people with kidney disease, according to a new study.
Researchers at the University of Western Ontario, in Canada, analyzed lab test data from nearly 350,000 people, representing nearly 32 percent of the total population of the targeted study area in Ontario.
They found that nearly half of the people had an abnormally low glomerular filtration rate (GFR), a standard measure of kidney function. That meant that about 16 percent of the total population of the study area had reduced kidney function.
Most of the abnormal results indicated mild, early stage chronic kidney disease. However, 16 percent of those with abnormal results met the criteria for moderate chronic kidney disease, and just under 2 percent met the criteria for severe disease.
Two thirds of the people who had repeated kidney function tests in the same month had similar results on both tests, the researchers added. This suggests that abnormal GFR does indicate true reductions in kidney function and is not just a temporary dip because of disease or other causes, they said.
Early identification of kidney disease is important, experts say, because effective treatments can slow or prevent progressive illness. In addition, kidney disease is a major risk factor for cardiovascular problems such as heart attack and stroke, and early kidney treatment can lower that risk.
According to the researchers, the findings suggest that wide, lab-based screening offers a new means of identifying people with chronic kidney disease because kidney function tests are performed routinely for a variety of reasons, especially in older adults.
The findings appear in the May issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has more about kidney disease.
