Genetic Testing to Understand and Address Renal Disease Disparities

CKD is most commonly associated with diabetes (40%) and hypertension (28%), and affects 26 million American adults. African ancestry populations with hypertension (HTN) have 2- to 3-fold higher risk of developing CKD, and a 5-fold increased risk to progress to end stage renal disease (ESRD) when compared with whites. HTN is a risk factor for progression of CKD and for increased cardiovascular risk with CKD. Thus targeting blood pressure control as a modifiable risk factor may both reduce CVD in people with CKD and reduce progression of CKD to end stage disease. Recent discoveries demonstrate that testable alleles of the APOL1 locus on chromosome 22 have a major effect on and explain almost all of the excess risk for hypertension-associated CKD and its progression to ESRD in African ancestry populations. We will use community-engaged approaches to enroll patients of African Ancestry with HTN from a network of community health centers and primary care facilities in Harlem and the Bronx and randomize them on a 7 to 1 ratio to receive APOL1 genetic testing and EMR-enabled provider clinical decision support incorporating APOL1 genomic risk information.