KidneyIntelX in DKD Study Population Characteristics

Aida Vega, MD: Let's talk about the demographics of the patients in terms of the interim study. The mean age we had was about 1,686 patients. The mean age was 68. 53% were female, 29% were Black. And as would expected in this population, 94% have hypertension. They had other comorbidities, such as coronary artery disease and heart failure, but the big chunk of the comorbidity was hypertension, which is great because we were targeting some of these therapies to maximize the hypertension control. Is there anything else you would like to comment on with the study population at all?

Fernando Carnavali, MD: I would like to point out a couple of items. As you mentioned, the comorbidities and hypertension, to highlight that piece. And we always remind ourselves that race is a social construct and it's not a biological one. Nevertheless, it's important to see that 29.4% in our Black patients participating in the study is fundamental that we include our minorities in these studies that usually have been underrepresented; it's good to see that. This is an interim study, as we mentioned at the beginning, you mentioned, so, more data regarding ethnicity will also be around. I'm seeing 1.3% of Hispanics, most likely the number is larger. Perhaps it's within the category here that it's 90% not specified. We'll most likely see more robust information regarding the different ethnicities when we move into the different stages out of this interim report study.

Aida Vega, MD: And the other thing that is interesting in this study population is that, in terms of the high-risk population, you saw that 34% of the patients who are Black in the study had a high-risk score, which is higher than the White population in terms of high risk. So, that is also significant in that we were identifying the Black population. And we know that the burden of kidney disease is higher in our Black population than our White population. So again, it had selected that the patients who were Black had a 34% increase or at least high-risk ratio.

Fernando Carnavali, MD: And one of the ways that I see this tool when we talk about KidneyIntelX, the way that I see the tool, is it has the potential to help us correct the inequities that we have seen in chronic kidney disease and diabetes. So, another layer of importance into having … screening tests, like KidneyIntelX, that provide us the opportunity to correct some of the inequities. Inequities have been getting better in the last decade. We know that the literature reflects that, but we know that we are not where we need to be yet. It’s important to see that we have, as you pointed out, identify this high-risk number, this 34.3% within the Black population that participated in the study.

Transcript edited for clarity