Serum cystatin C is superior to serum creatinine as a marker of kidney function: a meta-analysis

Serum cystatin C (Cys C) has been proposed as a simple, accurate, and rapid endogenous marker of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in research and clinical practice. However, there are conflicting reports regarding the superiority of Cys C over serum creatinine (Cr), with a few studies suggesting no significant difference.

We performed a meta-analysis of available data from various studies to compare the accuracy of Cys C and Cr in relation to a reference standard of GFR. A bibliographic search showed 46 articles until December 31, 2001. We also retrieved data from eight other studies presented and published in abstract form.

The overall correlation coefficient for the reciprocal of serum Cys C (r = 0.816; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.804 to 0.826) was superior to that of the reciprocal of serum Cr (r = 0.742; 95% CI, 0.726 to 0.758; P < 0.001). Similarly, receiver operating characteristic (ROC)-plot area under the curve (AUC) values for 1/Cys C had greater identity with the reference test for GFR (mean ROC-plot AUC for Cys C, 0.926; 95% CI, 0.892 to 0.960) than ROC-plot AUC values for 1/Cr (mean ROC-plot AUC for serum Cr, 0.837; 95% CI, 0.796 to 0.878; P < 0.001). Immunonephelometric methods of Cys C assay produced significantly greater correlations than other assay methods (r = 0.846 versus r = 0.784; P < 0.001).

In this meta-analysis using currently available data, serum Cys C is clearly superior to serum Cr as a marker of GFR measured by correlation or mean ROC-plot AUC.