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A proprietary formula showed good performance stratifying the risk of adults with early-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) advancing to more severe kidney dysfunction and increased health care needs. The analyses offer the possibility of focusing intensified medical management of early-stage CKD on those patients who could potentially receive the most benefit.

The Klinrisk model predicts the risk of an adult with early-stage CKD developing either a 40% or greater drop in estimated glomerular filtration rate or kidney failure. It calculates risk based on 20 lab-measured variables that include serum creatinine, urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio, and other values taken from routinely ordered tests such as complete blood cell counts, chemistry panels, comprehensive metabolic panels, and urinalysis.

Dr. Navdeep Tangri, professor of medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Mitchel L. Zoler/MDedge News
Dr. Navdeep Tangri

In the most recent and largest external validation study using data from 4.6 million American adults enrolled in commercial and Medicare insurance plans, the results showed Klinrisk correctly predicted CKD progression in 80%-83% of individuals over 2 years and in 78%-83% of individuals over 5 years, depending on the insurance provider, Navdeep Tangri, MD, PhD, reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology. When urinalysis data were available, the model correctly predicted CKD progression in 81%-87% of individuals over 2 years and in 80%-87% of individuals over 5 years. These results follow prior reports of several other successful validations of Klinrisk.
 

‘Ready to implement’

“The Klinrisk model is ready to implement by any payer, health system, or clinic where the needed lab data are available,” said Dr. Tangri, a nephrologist and professor at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, and founder of Klinrisk Inc., the company developing and commercializing the Klinrisk assessment tool.

For the time being, Dr. Tangri sees Klinrisk as a population health device that can allow insurers and health systems to track management quality and quality improvement and to target patients who stand to benefit most from relatively expensive resources. This includes prescriptions for finerenone (Kerendia, Bayer) for people who also have type 2 diabetes, and agents from the class of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors such as dapagliflozin (Farxiga, AstraZeneca) and empagliflozin (Jardiance, Boehringer Ingelheim and Lilly).



He has also begun discussions with the Food and Drug Administration about the data the agency will need to consider Klinrisk for potential approval as a new medical device, perhaps in 2025. That’s how he envisions getting a Klinrisk assessment into the hands of caregivers that they could use with individual patients to create an appropriate treatment plan.

Results from his new analysis showed that “all the kidney disease action is in the 10%-20% of people with the highest risk on Klinrisk, while not much happens in those in the bottom half,” Dr. Tangri said during his presentation.

“We’re trying to find the patients who get the largest [absolute] benefit from intensified treatment,” he added in an interview. “Klinrisk finds people with high-risk kidney disease early on, when kidney function is still normal or near normal. High-risk patients are often completely unrecognized. Risk-based management” that identifies the early-stage CKD patients who would benefit most from treatment with an SGLT2 inhibitor, finerenone, and other foundational treatments to slow CKD progression “is better than the free-for-all that occurs today.”

 

 

Simplified data collection

“Klinrisk is very effective,” but requires follow-up by clinicians and health systems to implement its findings, commented Josef Coresh, MD, a professor of clinical epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg, Baltimore. Dr. Coresh compared it with a free equation that estimates a person’s risk for a 40% drop in kidney function over the next 3 years developed by Dr. Tangri, Dr. Coresh, and many collaborators led by Morgan C. Grams, MD, PhD, of New York University that they published in 2022, and posted on a website of the CKD Prognosis Consortium.

Dr. Josef Coresh, professor of medicine, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore
Mitchel L. Zoler/MDedge News
Dr. Josef Coresh

The CKD Prognosis Consortium formula “takes a different approach” from Klinrisk. The commercial formula “is simpler, only using lab measures, and avoids inputs taken from physical examination such as systolic blood pressure and body mass index and health history data such as smoking, noted Dr. Coresh. He also speculated that “a commercial formula that must be paid for may counterintuitively result in better follow-up for making management changes if it uses some of the resources for education and system changes.”

Using data from multiple sources, like the CKD Prognosis Consortium equation, can create implementation challenges, said Dr. Tangri. “Lab results don’t vary much,” which makes Klinrisk “quite an improvement for implementation. It’s easier to implement.”

Other findings from the newest validation study that Dr. Tangri presented were that the people studied with Klinrisk scores in the top 10% had, over the next 2 years of follow-up and compared with people in the bottom half for Klinrisk staging, a 3- to 5-fold higher rate of all-cause medical costs, a 13-30-fold increase in CKD-related costs, and a 5- to 10-fold increase in hospitalizations and ED visits.

Early identification of CKD and early initiation of intensified treatment for high-risk patients can reduce the rate of progression to dialysis, reduce hospitalizations for heart failure, and lower the cost of care, Dr. Tangri said.

The validation study in 4.6 million Americans was sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr. Tangri founded and has an ownership interest in Klinrisk. He has also received honoraria from, has ownership interests in, and has been a consultant to multiple pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Coresh had no disclosures.

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A proprietary formula showed good performance stratifying the risk of adults with early-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) advancing to more severe kidney dysfunction and increased health care needs. The analyses offer the possibility of focusing intensified medical management of early-stage CKD on those patients who could potentially receive the most benefit.

The Klinrisk model predicts the risk of an adult with early-stage CKD developing either a 40% or greater drop in estimated glomerular filtration rate or kidney failure. It calculates risk based on 20 lab-measured variables that include serum creatinine, urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio, and other values taken from routinely ordered tests such as complete blood cell counts, chemistry panels, comprehensive metabolic panels, and urinalysis.

Dr. Navdeep Tangri, professor of medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Mitchel L. Zoler/MDedge News
Dr. Navdeep Tangri

In the most recent and largest external validation study using data from 4.6 million American adults enrolled in commercial and Medicare insurance plans, the results showed Klinrisk correctly predicted CKD progression in 80%-83% of individuals over 2 years and in 78%-83% of individuals over 5 years, depending on the insurance provider, Navdeep Tangri, MD, PhD, reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology. When urinalysis data were available, the model correctly predicted CKD progression in 81%-87% of individuals over 2 years and in 80%-87% of individuals over 5 years. These results follow prior reports of several other successful validations of Klinrisk.
 

‘Ready to implement’

“The Klinrisk model is ready to implement by any payer, health system, or clinic where the needed lab data are available,” said Dr. Tangri, a nephrologist and professor at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, and founder of Klinrisk Inc., the company developing and commercializing the Klinrisk assessment tool.

For the time being, Dr. Tangri sees Klinrisk as a population health device that can allow insurers and health systems to track management quality and quality improvement and to target patients who stand to benefit most from relatively expensive resources. This includes prescriptions for finerenone (Kerendia, Bayer) for people who also have type 2 diabetes, and agents from the class of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors such as dapagliflozin (Farxiga, AstraZeneca) and empagliflozin (Jardiance, Boehringer Ingelheim and Lilly).



He has also begun discussions with the Food and Drug Administration about the data the agency will need to consider Klinrisk for potential approval as a new medical device, perhaps in 2025. That’s how he envisions getting a Klinrisk assessment into the hands of caregivers that they could use with individual patients to create an appropriate treatment plan.

Results from his new analysis showed that “all the kidney disease action is in the 10%-20% of people with the highest risk on Klinrisk, while not much happens in those in the bottom half,” Dr. Tangri said during his presentation.

“We’re trying to find the patients who get the largest [absolute] benefit from intensified treatment,” he added in an interview. “Klinrisk finds people with high-risk kidney disease early on, when kidney function is still normal or near normal. High-risk patients are often completely unrecognized. Risk-based management” that identifies the early-stage CKD patients who would benefit most from treatment with an SGLT2 inhibitor, finerenone, and other foundational treatments to slow CKD progression “is better than the free-for-all that occurs today.”

 

 

Simplified data collection

“Klinrisk is very effective,” but requires follow-up by clinicians and health systems to implement its findings, commented Josef Coresh, MD, a professor of clinical epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg, Baltimore. Dr. Coresh compared it with a free equation that estimates a person’s risk for a 40% drop in kidney function over the next 3 years developed by Dr. Tangri, Dr. Coresh, and many collaborators led by Morgan C. Grams, MD, PhD, of New York University that they published in 2022, and posted on a website of the CKD Prognosis Consortium.

Dr. Josef Coresh, professor of medicine, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore
Mitchel L. Zoler/MDedge News
Dr. Josef Coresh

The CKD Prognosis Consortium formula “takes a different approach” from Klinrisk. The commercial formula “is simpler, only using lab measures, and avoids inputs taken from physical examination such as systolic blood pressure and body mass index and health history data such as smoking, noted Dr. Coresh. He also speculated that “a commercial formula that must be paid for may counterintuitively result in better follow-up for making management changes if it uses some of the resources for education and system changes.”

Using data from multiple sources, like the CKD Prognosis Consortium equation, can create implementation challenges, said Dr. Tangri. “Lab results don’t vary much,” which makes Klinrisk “quite an improvement for implementation. It’s easier to implement.”

Other findings from the newest validation study that Dr. Tangri presented were that the people studied with Klinrisk scores in the top 10% had, over the next 2 years of follow-up and compared with people in the bottom half for Klinrisk staging, a 3- to 5-fold higher rate of all-cause medical costs, a 13-30-fold increase in CKD-related costs, and a 5- to 10-fold increase in hospitalizations and ED visits.

Early identification of CKD and early initiation of intensified treatment for high-risk patients can reduce the rate of progression to dialysis, reduce hospitalizations for heart failure, and lower the cost of care, Dr. Tangri said.

The validation study in 4.6 million Americans was sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr. Tangri founded and has an ownership interest in Klinrisk. He has also received honoraria from, has ownership interests in, and has been a consultant to multiple pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Coresh had no disclosures.

A proprietary formula showed good performance stratifying the risk of adults with early-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) advancing to more severe kidney dysfunction and increased health care needs. The analyses offer the possibility of focusing intensified medical management of early-stage CKD on those patients who could potentially receive the most benefit.

The Klinrisk model predicts the risk of an adult with early-stage CKD developing either a 40% or greater drop in estimated glomerular filtration rate or kidney failure. It calculates risk based on 20 lab-measured variables that include serum creatinine, urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio, and other values taken from routinely ordered tests such as complete blood cell counts, chemistry panels, comprehensive metabolic panels, and urinalysis.

Dr. Navdeep Tangri, professor of medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Mitchel L. Zoler/MDedge News
Dr. Navdeep Tangri

In the most recent and largest external validation study using data from 4.6 million American adults enrolled in commercial and Medicare insurance plans, the results showed Klinrisk correctly predicted CKD progression in 80%-83% of individuals over 2 years and in 78%-83% of individuals over 5 years, depending on the insurance provider, Navdeep Tangri, MD, PhD, reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Nephrology. When urinalysis data were available, the model correctly predicted CKD progression in 81%-87% of individuals over 2 years and in 80%-87% of individuals over 5 years. These results follow prior reports of several other successful validations of Klinrisk.
 

‘Ready to implement’

“The Klinrisk model is ready to implement by any payer, health system, or clinic where the needed lab data are available,” said Dr. Tangri, a nephrologist and professor at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, and founder of Klinrisk Inc., the company developing and commercializing the Klinrisk assessment tool.

For the time being, Dr. Tangri sees Klinrisk as a population health device that can allow insurers and health systems to track management quality and quality improvement and to target patients who stand to benefit most from relatively expensive resources. This includes prescriptions for finerenone (Kerendia, Bayer) for people who also have type 2 diabetes, and agents from the class of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors such as dapagliflozin (Farxiga, AstraZeneca) and empagliflozin (Jardiance, Boehringer Ingelheim and Lilly).



He has also begun discussions with the Food and Drug Administration about the data the agency will need to consider Klinrisk for potential approval as a new medical device, perhaps in 2025. That’s how he envisions getting a Klinrisk assessment into the hands of caregivers that they could use with individual patients to create an appropriate treatment plan.

Results from his new analysis showed that “all the kidney disease action is in the 10%-20% of people with the highest risk on Klinrisk, while not much happens in those in the bottom half,” Dr. Tangri said during his presentation.

“We’re trying to find the patients who get the largest [absolute] benefit from intensified treatment,” he added in an interview. “Klinrisk finds people with high-risk kidney disease early on, when kidney function is still normal or near normal. High-risk patients are often completely unrecognized. Risk-based management” that identifies the early-stage CKD patients who would benefit most from treatment with an SGLT2 inhibitor, finerenone, and other foundational treatments to slow CKD progression “is better than the free-for-all that occurs today.”

 

 

Simplified data collection

“Klinrisk is very effective,” but requires follow-up by clinicians and health systems to implement its findings, commented Josef Coresh, MD, a professor of clinical epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg, Baltimore. Dr. Coresh compared it with a free equation that estimates a person’s risk for a 40% drop in kidney function over the next 3 years developed by Dr. Tangri, Dr. Coresh, and many collaborators led by Morgan C. Grams, MD, PhD, of New York University that they published in 2022, and posted on a website of the CKD Prognosis Consortium.

Dr. Josef Coresh, professor of medicine, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore
Mitchel L. Zoler/MDedge News
Dr. Josef Coresh

The CKD Prognosis Consortium formula “takes a different approach” from Klinrisk. The commercial formula “is simpler, only using lab measures, and avoids inputs taken from physical examination such as systolic blood pressure and body mass index and health history data such as smoking, noted Dr. Coresh. He also speculated that “a commercial formula that must be paid for may counterintuitively result in better follow-up for making management changes if it uses some of the resources for education and system changes.”

Using data from multiple sources, like the CKD Prognosis Consortium equation, can create implementation challenges, said Dr. Tangri. “Lab results don’t vary much,” which makes Klinrisk “quite an improvement for implementation. It’s easier to implement.”

Other findings from the newest validation study that Dr. Tangri presented were that the people studied with Klinrisk scores in the top 10% had, over the next 2 years of follow-up and compared with people in the bottom half for Klinrisk staging, a 3- to 5-fold higher rate of all-cause medical costs, a 13-30-fold increase in CKD-related costs, and a 5- to 10-fold increase in hospitalizations and ED visits.

Early identification of CKD and early initiation of intensified treatment for high-risk patients can reduce the rate of progression to dialysis, reduce hospitalizations for heart failure, and lower the cost of care, Dr. Tangri said.

The validation study in 4.6 million Americans was sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim. Dr. Tangri founded and has an ownership interest in Klinrisk. He has also received honoraria from, has ownership interests in, and has been a consultant to multiple pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Coresh had no disclosures.

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