Medical News Observer

A new risk calculator tool to predict the risk of chronic kidney disease is developed by Chronic Kidney Disease Prognosis Consortium, a large global collaboration led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. It utilizes a mix of variables to predict accurately whether someone is likely to develop chronic kidney disease within five years.

The risk calculator published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), is based on an analysis of clinical data from more than five million people around the world. The calculator is based on risk prediction model that utilizes age, sex, race/ethnicity, eGFR, history of cardiovascular disease, ever smoker, hypertension, body mass index, and albuminuria concentration. For participants with diabetes, the models also included diabetes medications, hemoglobin A1c, and the interaction between those two.

This calculator is available online at www.ckdpcrisk.corg

Risk prediction tools can help identify high-risk patients that can be followed with interventions that can slow or stop disease progression. In the case of kidney disease, progression can be delayed or stopped with treatments that address kidney-harming disorders such as hypertension and diabetes, and by limiting the use of kidney-stressing substances such as certain antibiotics, NSAID painkillers, and imaging contrast agents.