Background: It is unclear whether ethnic disparity of the prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) exists among native Chinese and American ethnicities.
Methods: A stratified multistage clustered screening for CKD performed in Beijing in 2006 was compared with data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1999-2006 (participants aged > or =20 years, 13 626 Chinese, 9006 whites, 3447 African Americans, 4626 Hispanics). Serum creatinine from Beijing and NHANES were calibrated at the Cleveland Clinic Laboratory. The re-expressed abbreviated MDRD equation for Americans and its modified form for Chinese were used to estimate glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Subjects with eGFR <60 mL/min/1.73 m(2) were diagnosed as having chronic renal insufficiency (CRI). Albuminuria was diagnosed if the urine albumin-creatinine ratio was >17 mg/g for males or >25 mg/g for females. CKD was diagnosed if CRI or albuminuria was present.
Results: Compared with American whites, African Americans and Hispanics, Chinese had a lower prevalence of adjusted albuminuria (12.10%, 16.33% and 14.16% versus 9.27%), CRI (9.46%, 5.18% and 3.11% versus 1.38%) and CKD (19.03%, 19.00% and 15.99% versus 10.25%). Moreover, Chinese hold the lowest risk of albuminuria when exposed to diabetes; the risk of CRI among Chinese when exposed to diabetes or hypertension was lower than that among African Americans, but similar to that among whites and Hispanics.
Conclusions: The CKD prevalence was significantly different among native Chinese and American ethnicities.