Potential patient impacts of the 2021 CKD-EPI equations
| Positive impacts |
| Earlier nephrology referral for Black patients |
| Earlier recognition and treatment of chronic kidney disease in Black patients |
| Earlier referral for transplant evaluation |
| Increased patient trust in the healthcare system |
| Negative impacts |
| Exclusion of medications restricted by GFR cutoff (eg, metformin, sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors, and some chemotherapy agents) |
| Dose reductions of critical medications (eg, antibiotics, antivirals, and some chemotherapy) |
| Exclusion from clinical trials or organ donation based on chronic kidney disease, chronic kidney disease stage, or GFR cutoff |
| Substandard imaging due to avoidance or reduction of contrast use |
| Increased medical insurance, life insurance costs |
| Increased patient anxiety from the diagnosis |
| Neutral or unclear impacts |
| Reclassification of chronic kidney disease stage |
| Changes in estimates of prevalence of chronic kidney disease |
CKD-EPI = Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration study; GFR = glomerular filtration rate