Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is recognised as a global public health problem, more prevalent in older persons and associated with multiple co‑morbidities. Diabetes mellitus and hypertension are common aetiologies for CKD, but IgA glomerulonephritis, membranous glomerulonephritis, lupus nephritis and autosomal dominant polycys‑tic kidney disease are also common causes of CKD.

Main body: Conventional biomarkers for CKD involving the use of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) derived from four variables (serum creatinine, age, gender and ethnicity) are recommended by clinical guidelines for the evaluation, classification, and stratification of CKD. However, these clinical biomarkers present some limitations, espe‑cially for early stages of CKD, elderly individuals, extreme body mass index values (serum creatinine), or are influenced by inflammation, steroid treatment and thyroid dysfunction (serum cystatin C). There is therefore a need to identify additional non‑invasive biomarkers that are useful in clinical practice to help improve CKD diagnosis, inform prognosis and guide therapeutic management.