Abstract: PUB080
Physician Perspectives on Cystatin C for Estimation of Glomerular Filtration Rate at a Single Academic Medical Center
Session Information
Category: Educational Research
- 1000 Educational Research
Authors
- Chen, Tiffany Hannah, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- Babroudi, Seda, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- Parzick, James Cole, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- Inker, Lesley, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Background
Clinical practice guidelines recommend use of cystatin C to support accurate estimation of glomerular filtrate rate (GFR). Uptake is limited. We assessed familiarity, knowledge, use, and barriers to use of GFR estimation based on cystatin C (eGFRcys) among attending and trainee physicians of different specialties.
Methods
We anonymously electronically surveyed participants across different medical and surgical subspecialties at a single academic medical center in the Northeast US between April 2025 and April 2026. Questions pertained to familiarity, current use, and barriers to use of cystatin C in clinical practice, in addition to knowledge of causes of error in eGFR based on creatinine (eGFRcr) vs eGFRcys. Comparisons were made between attendings, trainees, and different specialties using chi-square test and Fisher exact test for counts less than five.
Results
There were 113 total respondents, including 45 attending and 68 trainee physicians across five different specialties (Medicine, Surgery, Anesthesia, Psychiatry, and Radiology). Most respondents did not consider themselves familiar with (47%) nor knowledgeable about (25%) use of eGFRcys, particularly among trainees and non-medicine specialists (Table 1). Medicine specialists were more likely to use eGFRcys as compared to non-medicine specialists (74% vs. 47%, p=0.006), but use did not differ significantly between attending and trainee physicians (p=0.21). Ninety percent of all participants identified at least one barrier to cystatin C use in clinical practice, with the top three being: lack of familiarity (60%), difficulty with interpretation (44%), and lack of clinical practice guidelines (39%).
Conclusion
There is a clear opportunity to better educate attending and trainee physicians across all specialties regarding appropriate use of cystatin C to increase utilization in clinical practice for improved accuracy of GFR estimation in specific populations. This work was performed at a single center and may not be generalizable to other practice settings.
Funding
- Other NIH Support