Simple Urine Test Detects Silent Kidney Disease, University of Western Ontario Study

A simple and inexpensive urine test routinely done in family doctors’ offices may be the key to identifying individuals who are silently undergoing rapid kidney function decline, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). Using this test could lead to potentially earlier and more effective treatments, lowering patients’ risks of developing kidney failure and dying prematurely. Approximately 60 million people globally have chronic kidney disease. Early detection and prevention of kidney disease is the only way to prevent kidney failure, but individuals with kidney disease often do not experience symptoms until later stages of the disease. Serial monitoring of kidney function in the general population would likely catch such silently progressing kidney disease early, but it would be too expensive.