Cystatin C: Research Priorities Targeted to Clinical Decision Making

摘要

For over 20 years, cystatin C has been studied as an endogenous marker of glomerular filtration rate (GFR).1 A 2002 meta-analysis of 54 studies, evaluating 4,492 participants, noted that overall cystatin C has advantages over serum creatinine as a marker of GFR, hypothesizing that this was due to the relative independence of cystatin C from demographic factors and muscle mass.2 Mostly, these studies had small sample sizes, were conducted at single centers, and were composed of patients with established kidney disease. While 1/cystatin C had a stronger correlation with measured GFR than 1/creatinine in this meta-analysis,2 more recently developed GFR estimated equations that incorporate serum creatinine were not assessed in this meta-analysis and may have overcome this disadvantage#