For Black Americans, lack of 'rigorous scientific evidence' led to test that leaves some off kidney transplant list

But Eneanya, a physician who specializes in kidney disease treatment, knew better – the labs didn't show the true picture, and the condition runs in her family.

For about two decades, the test used in the general population has overestimated kidney function in Black patients, masking the severity of their kidney disease, resulting in late diagnosis and delayed transplant referrals.

“Why would Black patients have different kidney function than everybody else?” she said.

In the transplant inequities editorial, researchers noted the antiquated calculation “systematically raises” estimated kidney function by as much as 16% for Black people compared with patients of all other racial groups, “conferring an estimate of better kidney function for Black individuals.”.

More: People with kidney failure are at high risk from COVID-19: Dialysis clinics are doling out vaccine doses to protect them.

population, yet comprise more than a third of the nation’s 500,000 kidney failure patients, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Patients with kidney disease have been especially vulnerable to COVID-19.

“We have probably underdetected people who have chronic kidney disease and other concerning signs for rapidly progressing kidney failure or kidney disease… because of this overestimation of kidney function that has been specific to Black individuals,” Mohottige said. “There’s a litany of disparities in kidney disease that have plagued the United States for the past many decades.".

“Where we get into trouble is when we try to silo the biomedical sciences from other sciences … looking at Black people as kind of a different ‘species,’ it goes back to slavery