Kidney disease marker predicts who will need dialysis

Kidney disease affects about 20 million Americans, many of whom end up on dialysis. But there may be a way to identify and treat severe cases earlier in the course of the disease.

In a study published Friday, researchers said that measuring a hormone called FGF-23 can predict which patients will end up needing dialysis.

The hormone, fibroblast growth factor-23, was discovered fairly recently and has attracted a lot of attention from researchers for its crucial role in regulating phosphorus in the body. The new study showed that as kidneys fail, FGF-23 levels rise. Currently, doctors measure phosphorus levels to monitor patients with kidney disease. But FGF-32 appears to be more sensitive and begins to rise well before phosphorus changes are apparent.

“This discovery allows us to predict at-risk patients before they require dialysis,” the lead investigator, Dr. Michel Chonchol, an associate professor of nephrology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said in a news release. “That’s critical because approximately 23% of patients on dialysis die in the first year.”

The study appears in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

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