OBJECTIVE

Clinical guidelines for people with diabetes recommend chronic kidney disease (CKD) testing at least annually using estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR). We aimed to understand CKD testing among people with type 2 diabetes in the U.S.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

Electronic health record data were analyzed from 513,165 adults with type 2 diabetes receiving primary care from 24 health care organizations and 1,164 clinical practice sites. We assessed the percentage of patients with both one or more eGFRs and one or more uACRs and each test individually in the 1, 2, and 3 years ending September 2019 by health care organization and clinical practice site. Elevated albuminuria was defined as uACR ≥30 mg/g.

RESULTS

The 1-year median testing rate across organizations was 51.6% for both uACR and eGFR, 89.5% for eGFR, and 52.9% for uACR. uACR testing varied (10th-90th percentile) from 44.7 to 63.3% across organizations and from 13.3 to 75.4% across sites. Over 3 years, the median testing rate for uACR across organizations was 73.7%. Overall, the prevalence of detected elevated albuminuria was 15%. The average prevalence of detected elevated albuminuria increased linearly with uACR testing rates at sites, with estimated prevalence of 6%, 15%, and 30% at uACR testing rates of 20%, 50%, and 100%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

While eGFR testing rates are uniformly high among people with type 2 diabetes, testing rates for uACR are suboptimal and highly variable across and within the organizations examined. Guideline-recommended uACR testing should increase detection of CKD.