# Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR)

Biomarker · id `cardio:egfr` · Cardiovascular Atlas · release `f6f6f1b6f50379ed` (public)

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Also called: eGFR; Estimated GFR

Browse, organ or system: Kidneys  
Browse, condition area: Kidney connections  

## In plain language

A number on a kidney blood test report that estimates how well the kidneys filter waste. It is worked out from a blood test, usually creatinine, and it is used to find kidney disease, to see how serious it is and to follow it.

## Technical summary

Estimate of glomerular filtration rate from serum creatinine, cystatin C or both, with age and sex. A 2021 paper developed equations that leave out race and found the creatinine and cystatin C equations more accurate than creatinine-only equations in validation data. eGFR ranges set who could enter FLOW, FIDELIO-DKD, DAPA-CKD and EMPA-KIDNEY, and eGFR declines are part of their kidney outcomes.

## Claims, with the population each applies to

## Context: Adults with chronic kidney disease or at risk of it (NIDDK and MedlinePlus patient pages)

Recipient: Adult; Population: Adults with chronic kidney disease, or at higher risk of it, for example because of diabetes or high blood pressure.; Care setting: Not stated; patient information pages; Geography: Not stated; United States federal health agencies; Life stage: Adults; Follow-up: Not applicable (descriptive page)

### MedlinePlus says eGFR and mGFR tests are used to see if the kidneys are filtering waste at a healthy rate. An eGFR test is used to screen for kidney disease in people without symptoms, to help diagnose it in people who have symptoms, to help find out how serious kidney disease is, and to monitor people being treated for chronic kidney disease. The page says the provider can find eGFR by measuring creatinine levels, for example in a basic metabolic panel.

- Category: Description
- Evidence stage: Evidence stage not applicable
- Certainty: Certainty not assessed
- Applies to: Recipient: Adult; Population: Adults with chronic kidney disease, or at higher risk of it, for example because of diabetes or high blood pressure.; Care setting: Not stated; patient information pages; Geography: Not stated; United States federal health agencies; Life stage: Adults; Follow-up: Not applicable (descriptive page)
- Limitations: A patient-information page from the National Library of Medicine. The passages read give no eGFR values or stage thresholds, so this atlas gives none.
- Last checked: 2026-10-14
- Sources:
  1. Supports: MedlinePlus medical test: Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) Test (Webpage, edition MedlinePlus page fetched 2026-10-14; the page footer says last updated September 30, 2026.) <https://medlineplus.gov/lab-tests/glomerular-filtration-rate-gfr-test/>
     Locator: What is it used for?, para 1. Retrieved 2026-10-14T18:30:06Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 159b2f634d33619df9137836f16dbbbd8883c335db915bd000da1658fc944446.
     How it applies: What the tests are for.
  2. Supports: MedlinePlus medical test: Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) Test (Webpage, edition MedlinePlus page fetched 2026-10-14; the page footer says last updated September 30, 2026.) <https://medlineplus.gov/lab-tests/glomerular-filtration-rate-gfr-test/>
     Locator: What is it used for?, list. Retrieved 2026-10-14T18:30:06Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 159b2f634d33619df9137836f16dbbbd8883c335db915bd000da1658fc944446.
     How it applies: The listed uses of an eGFR test.
  3. Supports: MedlinePlus medical test: Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) Test (Webpage, edition MedlinePlus page fetched 2026-10-14; the page footer says last updated September 30, 2026.) <https://medlineplus.gov/lab-tests/glomerular-filtration-rate-gfr-test/>
     Locator: Why do I need a GFR test?, para 1. Retrieved 2026-10-14T18:30:06Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 159b2f634d33619df9137836f16dbbbd8883c335db915bd000da1658fc944446.
     How it applies: eGFR is found from creatinine levels.

## Context: Participants in the studies used to develop and validate race-free eGFR equations

Recipient: Recipient not specified; Population: Participants in 10 studies (8254 participants, 31.5 percent Black) used to develop the creatinine equations, 13 studies (5352 participants, 39.7 percent Black) used for the creatinine and cystatin C equations, and 12 studies (4050 participants, 14.3 percent Black) used for validation.; Care setting: Not stated in the abstract; Geography: Not stated in the abstract; the paper also projects CKD prevalence in a sample of U.S. adults; Life stage: Not stated in the abstract; Gestational age: Not reported; Postnatal age: Not reported; Follow-up: Not applicable (pooled development and validation datasets)

### A 2021 paper in the New England Journal of Medicine developed new eGFR equations that leave out race. The authors say race in eGFR equations is a social and not a biologic construct. In the validation data (12 studies, 4050 participants, 14.3% Black), 85% or more of the eGFRs for Black and non-Black participants were within 30% of measured GFR for all equations. The new equations that combine creatinine and cystatin C were more accurate than the new creatinine equations, with smaller differences between race groups.

- Category: Description
- Evidence stage: Observational
- Certainty: Certainty not assessed
- Applies to: Recipient: Recipient not specified; Population: Participants in 10 studies (8254 participants, 31.5 percent Black) used to develop the creatinine equations, 13 studies (5352 participants, 39.7 percent Black) used for the creatinine and cystatin C equations, and 12 studies (4050 participants, 14.3 percent Black) used for validation.; Care setting: Not stated in the abstract; Geography: Not stated in the abstract; the paper also projects CKD prevalence in a sample of U.S. adults; Life stage: Not stated in the abstract; Gestational age: Not reported; Postnatal age: Not reported; Follow-up: Not applicable (pooled development and validation datasets)
- Limitations: Only the PubMed abstract was read. The abstract does not state the ages of the participants. The abstract also reports that the new creatinine equations, but not the new creatinine and cystatin C equations, raised the estimated prevalence of chronic kidney disease among Black adults in a projection for U.S. adults. The study was funded by NIDDK (abstract).
- Last checked: 2026-10-14
- Sources:
  1. Background: New Creatinine- and Cystatin C-Based Equations to Estimate GFR without Race (Publication, edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched.) <https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2102953>
     Locator: Abstract, BACKGROUND, sentence 2. Retrieved 2026-10-14T18:18:51Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 0e7cbff49da3e69d4b8964180159afcc8043f754e444ad86e7ac79a46d0caeb1.
     How it applies: Why race was removed from the equations.
  2. Supports: New Creatinine- and Cystatin C-Based Equations to Estimate GFR without Race (Publication, edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched.) <https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2102953>
     Locator: Abstract, METHODS, sentence 1. Retrieved 2026-10-14T18:18:51Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 0e7cbff49da3e69d4b8964180159afcc8043f754e444ad86e7ac79a46d0caeb1.
     How it applies: Development and validation data sets.
  3. Supports: New Creatinine- and Cystatin C-Based Equations to Estimate GFR without Race (Publication, edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched.) <https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2102953>
     Locator: Abstract, RESULTS, sentence 4; Abstract, RESULTS, sentence 5. Retrieved 2026-10-14T18:18:51Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 0e7cbff49da3e69d4b8964180159afcc8043f754e444ad86e7ac79a46d0caeb1.
     How it applies: Accuracy of the new equations.
  4. Supports: New Creatinine- and Cystatin C-Based Equations to Estimate GFR without Race (Publication, edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched.) <https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2102953>
     Locator: Abstract, CONCLUSIONS, sentence 1. Retrieved 2026-10-14T18:18:51Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 0e7cbff49da3e69d4b8964180159afcc8043f754e444ad86e7ac79a46d0caeb1.
     How it applies: The authors conclusion.
  5. Background: New Creatinine- and Cystatin C-Based Equations to Estimate GFR without Race (Publication, edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched.) <https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2102953>
     Locator: Abstract, RESULTS, sentence 6. Retrieved 2026-10-14T18:18:51Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 0e7cbff49da3e69d4b8964180159afcc8043f754e444ad86e7ac79a46d0caeb1.
     How it applies: Effect on estimated CKD prevalence.
  6. Background: New Creatinine- and Cystatin C-Based Equations to Estimate GFR without Race (Publication, edition PubMed record (abstract and bibliographic data) from NCBI E-utilities. The full text and the version of record were not fetched.) <https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2102953>
     Locator: Abstract, CONCLUSIONS, sentence 2. Retrieved 2026-10-14T18:18:51Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: 0e7cbff49da3e69d4b8964180159afcc8043f754e444ad86e7ac79a46d0caeb1.
     How it applies: Funding line.

## Connected pages

- Used to screen for, stage and follow chronic kidney disease: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) (`cardio:chronic-kidney-disease`) [a claim, not a settled fact; see claim `cardio:claim-egfr-use` and its context]
- Related to: MedlinePlus (`core:medlineplus`)
- Investigated in: DAPA-CKD: dapagliflozin in chronic kidney disease (`cardio:dapa-ckd`)
- Investigated in: EMPA-KIDNEY: empagliflozin in a broad range of chronic kidney disease (`cardio:empa-kidney`)
- Investigated in: FIDELIO-DKD: finerenone and kidney outcomes in type 2 diabetes (`cardio:fidelio-dkd`)
- Investigated in: FLOW: semaglutide and kidney outcomes in type 2 diabetes with chronic kidney disease (`cardio:flow-trial`)

## Provenance

Content hash: 9952d94b5a241753bb7b37bc66b6d67c5e004ba416a73cca4c8615b4800a93ad
Last substantive edit: 2026-10-14
Evidence last checked: Not recorded