engleski

Standardization and harmonization of laboratory diagnostics of chronic kidney disease in Croatia.

Aim: In 2014, the Joint Croatian Working Group (JCWG) for laboratory diagnostics of CKD on behalf of the Croatian Society of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CSMBLM) and Croatian Chamber of Medical Biochemists (CCMB) conducted a survey across Croatian medical-biochemistry laboratories to assess the current practice in this area of laboratory medicine. The results of the survey showed a large heterogeneity among Croatian laboratories, which set the background for the process of standardization and harmonization. Methods: To ensure the tools for the standardization process, in 2015 JCWG issued the first national recommendations for laboratory diagnostics of CKD. The main goal was to give recommendations that can be easily applied. To assess the national recommendation implementation process, a slightly modified survey was repeated in December 2017. Results: The survey results showed a substantial decrease in the number of laboratories which measure creatinine with non-standardized uncompensated Jaffé method, compared with the initial assessment conducted in 2014 ; 7% vs 40%, respectively. The number of the laboratories that do not report eGFR values decreased almost by half compared to the initial 2014 data (37.6% vs 74.4%). However, similar number of laboratories (54/98 vs 58/80) still do not measure urine albumin or protein. Conclusions: The first Croatian recommendations for laboratory testing of CKD implementation process reached their first year which resulted in substantial improvement in the standardization of the serum creatinine measurement, as well as in reporting of eGFR. However, albuminuria or proteinuria assessment is still not implemented nationwide, mainly due to legislative reasons.

standardization, harmonization, CKD, Croatia, recommendations

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