Renal Histologic Analysis Provides Complementary Information to Kidney Function Measurement for Patients with Early Diabetic or Hypertensive Disease

Background: Patients with diabetic or hypertensive kidney disease rarely undergo kidney biopsy because nephrologists commonly believe that biopsy-related risk outweighs the potential benefits of obtaining histologic information to guide clinical decisions. Although kidney function is acutely regulated, histologic changes such as interstitial fibrosis, tubular atrophy, and glomerulosclerosis may represent chronic kidney damage, and thus might provide additional information about disease severity. However, whether histologic analysis provides information complementary to clinically used kidney function measurements, such as eGFR and proteinuria, is unclear.

Methods: We performed a standardized semiquantitative histologic analysis of 859 nephrectomies obtained from individuals with or without diabetes mellitus or hypertension and varying degrees of kidney dysfunction. Changes in glomeruli, tubules, interstitium, and the vasculature were scored using 17 descriptive parameters in a standardized manner. We used multivariable linear and logistic regression analyses and unbiased, hierarchical clustering to assess associations between histologic alterations and clinical variables.

Results: At CKD stages 3-5, eGFR correlates reasonably well with the degree of glomerulosclerosis and interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IFTA). In patients with CKD stages 1-2, the degree of histologic damage was highly variable and eGFR poorly estimated the degree of damage. Individuals with diabetes mellitus, hypertension, or Black race had significantly more glomerulosclerosis and IFTA, at the same eGFR level. Inclusion of glomerulosclerosis improved the kidney function decline estimation, even at early disease stages.

Conclusions: Histologic analysis is an important complementary method for kidney disease evaluation, especially at early disease stages. Some individuals present with relatively severe structural damage despite preserved eGFR.