A recent article in Hospital Pharmacy presented a review of literature comparing various methods used for estimating renal function and how those equations are best used when applied to drug dosage adjustments. The article, “Drug Dosage Adjustment Using Renal Estimation equations: A Review of the Literature” discusses literature surrounding the Cockcroft-Gault (CG), the abbreviated Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation (abbrMDRD), and to a lesser extent the original Modification of Diet in Renal Disease equation. Although promising, there simply isn’t enough literature to support the use of the abbrMDRD equation in pharmacy practice. The article concludes that “although the abbrMDRD equation has many advantages as compared with the CG equation, too little research has been completed at this time to recommend the clinical use of the abbrMDRD equation in pharmacy practice.”
RxCalc currently uses the Cockcroft-Gault equation to estimate renal function for all pharmacokinetic calculations. Apple Core Labs will continue to evaluate new and emerging data, and use this information to make changes to RxCalc when deemed appropriate.