HUGE EQUATION ACCURACY FOR SCREENING CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE: A PROSPECTIVE STUDY

Objectives: Chronically reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in old people does not always mean that they suffer from chronic kidney disease (CKD) since their GFR can just be induced by ageing. The HUGE equation has been recently described and validated in Spain for screening CKD without taking into account the patient´s GFR value This study evaluated HUGE performance in Argentine patiens. Material & Method: This was a prospective study to assess the operational characteristics of the HUGE equation for diagnosing CKD (diagnostic accuracy) in an ambulatory adult (age ≥ 18 years old) population (n: 205) assisted at the ambulatory clinical consult of Hospital Italiano de San Justo, Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2016. Results: It was documented that HUGE equation had a sensitivity of 56.7% (IC: 37.4% - 74.5%), and a specificity of 95.9% (IC: 88.6% - 99.1%) for screening CKD in elderly individuals who have an estimated GFR < 45 ml/min/1.73 m². Additionally, it was found that the screening strategy of combining HUGE with estimated GFR and urinalyses, showed a very good performance for detecting CKD, not only in elderly people but also in young people. Both triple combined CKD screening strategies showed a sensitivity around 86%, and 98% in young and elderly people, respectively. Conclusion: This study documented that the HUGE equation had and acceptable performance for screening moderate-severe CKD (stages III b-V) in elderly people, and an excellent performance for screening CKD in general population in combination with estimated GFR and urinalyses.