# Feasibility of obtaining measured glomerular filtration rate among young adults with cerebral palsy

> **NIH NIH R03** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2022 · $78,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Young adults 18-40 years of age with cerebral palsy (CP) have unmet healthcare needs and heightened
susceptibility for kidney disease, which may result in greater risk for premature morbidity and mortality;
however, little is known about kidney function for individuals with CP. This is due to misinterpretation of clinical
measures of kidney function that are not appropriate for CP, leading to inaccurate assessment of kidney
function. Interventions at earlier stages of kidney dysfunction can be highly effective at mitigating long-term risk
of kidney disease; however, intervention efforts are hindered without accurate assessments of glomerular
filtration rate (GFR), the clinical gold-standard measure of kidney function, in patients with CP. No studies have
measured GFR (mGFR) for CP. The feasibility of obtaining mGFR in adults with CP is unknown, as is the
accuracy of estimating GFR (eGFR) using traditional equations through non-invasive methods. There may be
specific barriers in mGFR testing for adults with CP. Therefore, identifying clinical feasibility and reasonable
accommodations to accurately assess mGFR is a vital first step. The long-term goal is to understand, prevent,
and treat kidney dysfunction to improve healthful aging for individuals with CP. The objective of this study is to
lay the foundation for future research and clinical intervention by determining the clinical feasibility of obtaining
mGFR using the widely adopted clinical test, 125I-Iothalamate, and the 99mTc-DTPA test, which is a less-
involved clinical protocol, for young adults 18-40 years old with CP. Specifically, the primary Aim of this study
will measure the proportion of those consented to those approached, proportion of those completing testing
procedures to those consented, acceptability of testing using validated measures, and exit interviews that
probe barriers and facilitators to enrollment and testing challenges for both the participants with CP and the
experienced technicians obtaining mGFR. The exit interviews will allow us to identify and develop reasonable
accommodations to enhance recruitment and completion of testing for future research studies and to inform
clinical practice. If both clinical protocols prove reliable mGFR measures as determined by routine clinical
standards, we will explore: (1) the agreement between tests, which will provide evidence of which test can be
used for research and clinic; and (2) the degree of discrepancy between mGFR and eGFR by severity of CP.
This information will initiate needed work in providing a clinically-friendly CP correction factor or a CP-specific
equation for eGFR to improve clinical monitoring of kidney function for this vulnerable population. The research
is innovative because it will challenge the current status quo that kidney function is normal for CP, which is due
to misinterpretation of kidney function from routinely used clinical measures that are not appropriate for CP
rather than true ki...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10463784
- **Project number:** 5R03HD105589-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Daniel Whitney
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $78,000
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-08-06 → 2023-10-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10463784

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10463784, Feasibility of obtaining measured glomerular filtration rate among young adults with cerebral palsy (5R03HD105589-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10463784. Licensed CC0.

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