KEEP enrollees with cardiovascular disease had a keener awareness of the risks of kidney disease, he said. "While awareness may be triggered by cardiovascular disease, those unaware in the earlier stages of kidney disease are particularly vulnerable to poor risk factor control and increased risk for mortality and progression to end-stage renal disease," Dr. Whaley-Connell said. "We advocate for targeted education and awareness at earlier stages of kidney disease to improve risk factor control."
"I think any general practitioner seeing patients needs to pay attention to eGFR," Dr. Bakris said. "If the patient has stage 2 disease and an eGFR of 60-80 mL/min per 1.73 m2 now, especially with the CKD-EPI equation, the next question out of his mouth should be, ‘Do you have a family history of kidney disease?’"
However, he cited National Kidney Foundation data that showed only 31% of physicians considered family history an important factor. "If your patient has a family history of kidney disease and an eGFR of 50 mL/min per 1.73 m2 ... you really do need to pay attention to that and do something about it."
KEEP is funded by Amgen, Abbott, Siemens, Astellas, Genzyme, Fresenius Medical Care, Pfizer, Nephroceuticals and the LifeScan unit of Johnson & Johnson. Panel participants disclosed affiliations with a variety of device and pharmaceutical companies.