Population-Based Screening for CKD

Powe, Neil R.; Boulware, L. Ebony

doi:10.1053/j.ajkd.2008.07.050

« Previous Next »American Journal of Kidney Diseases
Volume 53, Issue 3, Supplement 3 , Pages S64-S70, March 2009

Population-Based Screening for CKD

Neil R. Powe, MD, MPH, MBA
- Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
- Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
- Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD
- Address correspondence to Neil R. Powe, MD, MPH, MBA, Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, 2024 E Monument St, Ste 2-600, Baltimore, MD 21205
L. Ebony Boulware, MD, MPH
- Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD
- Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD

Organizations both in the United States and globally have advocated for screening for chronic kidney disease with a urine test for proteinuria followed by subsequent testing with creatinine-based estimated glomerular filtration rate determinations. Screening for a disease, such as chronic kidney disease, can have value, but a decision to screen is not a trivial decision. Criteria must be met to balance the aggregate benefits with the risks and costs of a screening test. We discuss how screening for chronic kidney disease meets many of these criteria, but also how the populations to which it is applied must be targeted and the strategies for testing must be clearly defined.

Index Words: Chronic kidney disease, screening, disease detection