Background: Little is known about the racial differences in the incidence and progression of HIV-related chronic kidney disease (CKD) that underlie African American-white disparities in HIV-related end-stage renal disease (ESRD).
Methods: In a cohort in Baltimore, Maryland, we measured CKD incidence, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) slope, and progression to ESRD in 3332 African American and 927 white HIV-infected subjects.
Results: A total of 284 subjects developed CKD, 100 (35%) of whom subsequently developed ESRD. African American subjects were at slightly increased risk for incident CKD, compared with white subjects (hazard ratio [HR], 1.9 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.2-2.8]). However, once CKD had commenced, the African American subjects developed ESRD markedly faster than did the white subjects (HR, 17.7 [95% CI, 2.5-127.0]), and, correspondingly, their GFR decline after diagnosis of CKD was 6-fold more rapid (P < .001). In the subset of African American subjects for whom kidney-biopsy data were available, progression to ESRD was significantly faster than that in white subjects with CKD, irrespective of the presence of HIV-associated nephropathy.
Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that African American-white disparities in HIV-related ESRD are explained predominantly by a more aggressive natural disease history in African Americans and less by racial differences in CKD incidence.