“…Unlike creatinine, production of cystatin C is unaffected by muscle mass or diet, and remains constant even in the presence of intercurrent infection or malignancy [39]. Most [39,[41][42][43][44][45], although not all studies [37,46,47], including a meta-analysis [30], have demonstrated superiority of cystatin C as a measure of GFR in comparison to serum creatinine. However, cystatin C is ubiquitous, and many other factors, including age, male gender, weight, height, smoking and steroid therapy, have been shown to be associated independently with higher serum cystatin C levels after adjustment for renal function, suggesting that it may lack specificity for renal impairment [48,49].…”