Age- and sex-specific reference values of estimated glomerular filtration rates for European adults

Kidney function, often assessed by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), declines naturally with age. However, there is a lack of eGFR reference values to describe normal and abnormal values for a specific age. The European Chronic Kidney Disease Burden Consortium is comprised of nine participating general population-based studies from seven European countries which provides European age- and sex-specific eGFR reference values in healthy adults using the European Kidney Function Consortium (EKFC) equation. Of 2,572,020 individuals, 1,535,253 (60%) were considered healthy, of which 45% were men. Ages ranged from 18 to 105 years old in men and 18 to 107 years old in women with a median age of 43 years in both sexes. At age 20 in men, the 5th, 50th and 95th eGFR percentiles were 78 ml/min per 1.73 m2, 99 ml/min per 1.73 m2, and 119 ml/min per 1.73 m2. In 20-year-old women this was 81 ml/min per 1.73 m2, 101 ml/min per 1.73 m2, and 121 ml/min per 1.73 m2. Consequently, in men aged 80 years old, the 5th, 50th and 95th eGFR percentiles were 49 ml/min per 1.73 m2, 66 ml/min per 1.73 m2, and 84 ml/min per 1.73 m2. In 80 year old women this was 46 ml/min per 1.73 m2, 63 ml/min per 1.73 m2, and 81 ml/min per 1.73 m2. Overall, our study shows that eGFR is not preserved with ageing in healthy individuals and these eGFR reference values can help determine abnormal and normal kidney function across the age range.