Forty‐six patients with chronic glomerular diseases have been treated with azathioprine for up to 84 months. The importance of the variables sex, age, clinical diagnosis, histological glomerular changes, arterial hypertension, treatment with prednisone and initial values of serum creatinine and proteinuria was investigated. In 22 patients the renal state as estimated by serum creatinine, proteinuria and urinary sediment was normalized or improved. The renal state was unchanged in 9 patients and deteriorated in 12. The clinical diagnoses glomerulonephritis and idiopathic nephrotic syndrome, normal arterial BP and normal initial serum creatinine concentration were correlated to the improvement. Five of 26 patients deteriorated after withdrawal of azathioprine. Eighteen patients died during the study, 7 from uremia, 2 from side‐effects of the cytostatic treatment and 9 from other diseases. Initial serum creatinine concentration was the only variable correlated to survival.

Skin biopsies from 3 patients with anaphylactoid purpura examined by an immunofluorescence technique revealed deposits of immunoglobulins, complement C3, and fibrinogen in the dermo-epidermal junction and in vessel walls of clinically involved as well as uninvolved skin. The deposits in the dermo-epidermal junction are similar to those seen in the skin of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

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