Higher Serum Creatinine Concentrations in Black Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Serum creatinine concentrations tend to be higher in black than white individuals and people of other races or ethnicities. These differences have been assumed to be largely related to race-related differences in body composition, especially muscle mass. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, P 10 mg/dl and six-fold more likely to have a serum creatinine concentration >15 mg/dl. Higher serum creatinine concentrations were associated with a lower relative risk for death (0.93; 95% confidence interval 0.88 to 0.98 per mg/dl); the association was slightly more pronounced among nonblack patients. CONCLUSIONS: Serum creatinine concentrations are significantly higher in black compared with nonblack hemodialysis patients; these differences are not readily explained by differences in nutritional status or body composition.