Kidney function equation (eGFR) transition for life insurance testing panels
As a leader in the life insurance industry, ExamOne is committed to ensuring our clients are using current and accurate laboratory testing equipment and methodologies. About 37 million people in the United States are currently affected by chronic kidney disease (CKD), and the prevalence of ensuing kidney failure is rising.1 Insurance underwriting has used an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) that detects CKD and other kidney functions for many years.
In 2021, a task force convened by the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) and American Society of Nephrology (ASN) released the race-free equation for calculating eGFR from serum creatinine called the CKD-EPI 2021 equation.2 The report states that this equation provides an unbiased and most reasonably accurate estimation of GFR and recommends adopting this equation over others being used so that laboratories, clinicians, patients, and public health officials can make informed decisions to ensure equity and personalized care for patients with kidney diseases.
Quest Diagnostics and ExamOne are committed to adopting the recommendations from the NKF. Quest has transitioned clinical reporting to the 2021 race-free eGFR equation. And in the summer of 2023, ExamOne will also start transitioning to report insurance-laboratory eGFR values as calculated through the CKD-EPI 2021 equation.
As applicant race has long been an excluded variable in life insurance underwriting, the practical impact of this change for most carriers should be small. ExamOne data products tools have used race-neutral eGFR formulas since their inception and will be unaffected.
All clients requesting eGFR for the first time will automatically be set up with the CKD-EPI Creatinine 2021 equation. Clients currently using other eGFR equations will be contacted by their Account Manager with details on how to implement their migration to the new equation.
Please contact your ExamOne representative with any additional questions.
1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic kidney disease in the United States, 2021. Updated March 4, 2021. Accessed May 12, 2022. https://www.cdc.gov/kidneydisease/pdf/Chronic-Kidney-Disease-in-the-US-2021-h.pdf
2 NKF and ASN release new way to diagnose kidney diseases. National Kidney Foundation/American Society of Nephrology Task Force. Press release; September 23, 2021. https://www.kidney.org/news/nkf-and-asn-release-new-way-to-diagnose-kidney-diseases
