Prevalence and characteristics of chronic kidney disease among Danish adults with cystic fibrosis

Background

With improved prognosis of CF, comorbidities including chronic kidney disease (CKD) are becoming increasingly important. Identification of those at highest CKD risk is hence a priority.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, adults with CF attending the Copenhagen CF Centre at Rigshospitalet with ≥ 2 measurements of serum creatinine from 2013 to 2015 were included. Data was obtained from an electronic CF database, which contains anonymised clinical and laboratory data on all individuals attending the clinic. CKD was defined as a confirmed (≥ 3 months apart) estimated glomerular filtration rate ≤ 60 mL/min/1.73m².

Results

Of 181 individuals, the CKD prevalence was 2.7% and increased to 11% after inclusion of lung transplanted patients. Individuals with CKD were generally older (median 39 (IQR, 36–45) vs. 31 (IQR, 24–39) years; p < 0.001), diabetic (86% vs. 41%, p < 0.001), with longer median duration of chronic pulmonary infection (28.3 (20.0–35.8) vs. 20.0 (9.9–34.7) years; p = 0.008) and with longer intravenous aminoglycosides use (606 (IQR, 455–917) vs. 273 (IQR, 91–826) days, p = 0.005).

Conclusions

The CKD prevalence is high and related to age, diabetes, chronic infection, transplantation and aminoglycosides use. These observations call for longitudinal studies investigating CKD predictors in adults with CF.