Principles of Kidney Pharmacotherapy for the Nephrologist: Core Curriculum 2021
Medications are an important part of the management of patients with kidney disease. When used appropriately, pharmacotherapy can slow disease progression and reduce morbidity and mortality. Unfortunately, reduced kidney function can significantly alter the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of many medications, putting patients at risk for drug toxicity if modifications to therapy are not appropriately managed. Adding complexity to the appropriateness of medication and dosage selection is the difficulty in estimating kidney function and the discordance between the Cockcroft-Gault–derived dosing cut points in most medication package inserts and the estimations of glomerular filtration rate by newer and generally more accurate guideline-recommended equations.