Medical Renal Disease in the Elderly in a Southern Indian Hospital

Abstract

A review of 85 patients aged 60 years or more, treated in a southern Indian hospital for conditions requiring renal biopsy, showed that diffuse poliferative glomerulonephritis was the most frequent diagnosis, being present in 24 cases of whom 11 had elevated serum streptococcal antibody titres. Infections were also important in 2 patients with amyloidosis secondary to tuberculosis, in 3 patients with acute tubular necrosis following infectious gastroenteritis and in a patient with acute pyaemic interstitial nephritis with septicaemia. Drugs including indigenous medicines were the other important cause of renal disease, being implicated in 11 cases.

Renal Biopsy in Patients 65 Years of Age or Older An Analysis of the Results of 334 Biopsies

“…Recent reports have indicated that a wide variety of primary and secondary renal diseases occur in the older population 1 – 4 . A spectrum of glomerular, vascular, and interstitial disorders has been described and serves to underline the emerging notion that seeking a biopsy diagnosis is worthwhile in many cases.…”