Removing race from clinical tools that calculate kidney function could have both advantages and disadvantages for Black patients.
Newly diagnosed patients and those whose kidney disease is reclassified as more severe would have greater access to kidney specialists, faster access to the kidney-transplant waitlist.
On the flipside, patients reclassified as having more severe kidney disease may become ineligible for heart, diabetes, pain control and cancer medications or may be given lower doses for these drugs.
A new kidney function score would also increase the number of Black individuals ineligible to donate a kidney, potentially exacerbating organ shortages for Black people.
Researchers caution that clinicians and policy makers must anticipate both the benefits and downsides of changes to the current formula to ensure that Black patients are not disadvantaged, and
health disparities are not exacerbated.
Scientists say the analysis should motivate researchers and cl
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