Renal diseases in children in Venezuela, South America

Abstract

The present study reports epidemiological data on renal disorders in children in Venezuela. Information was obtained from 14 centers for the period January through December 1998. A total of 3,624 patients were evaluated as either a first outpatient consultation or as a first hospital admission. Nearly 70% of the patients could be grouped in one of the following categories: (1) urinary tract infections (32%), with detection of abnormalities of the urinary tract in 25%, (2) metabolic disorders (28%), mainly idiopathic hypercalciuria and hyperuricosuria, (3) glomerulonephritis (9.5%). The other 30% corresponded to urolithiasis 7%; renal tubular acidosis 5.6%; nephrotic syndrome 4.5%; primary hematuria 4.2%; acute renal failure 2.8% (43% were secondary to acute dehydration, 15% to birth asphyxia, 14% to septicemia, and 23% to multiple factors); chronic renal failure 1.6% (secondary to glomerulopathies, predominantly focal glomerulosclerosis, structural abnormalities of the urinary tract, hereditary disorders, and renal hypoplasia/dysplasia); miscellaneous diseases 4.8%. Hence, the spectrum of renal disorders in Venezuela is wide, sharing similarities with countries of both the developed and developing world. These data will hopefully contribute to the development of national healthcare policies appropriate to the epidemiology of the country.

Presentation and pattern of childhood renal diseases in Gusau, North-Western Nigeria

“…In our study, UTI was the most common renal disorder, which was similar to the findings of studies conducted in Pakistan, [8] Sudan, [12] Benin, [13] Port Harcourt, [14] and Venezuela, [16] but differed from findings in Jos, [2] Calabar, [5] Lagos, [6] Enugu, [9] and Iran. [15] This was followed by AGN and AKI, which showed that infectious agents play a role in renal diseases in Gusau, as seen in other reports.…”

“…The childhood renal diseases identified in our study were similar to what was obtained in studies conducted elsewhere in Nigeria [1,2,5,6,13,14] and the world; [7,[15][16][17] however, with varying rates. This observation could be explained by the fact that environmental factors, such as poor hygiene, poverty, and socioeconomic conditions, as well as genetic factors and late presentation, may have influenced the rates of childhood kidney diseases in our setting.…”

Changing trends in the referral patterns of pediatric nephrology patients

“…These local Canadian results may also have implications for the dayto-day diagnosis and treatment of children with renal and/ or urinary tract disorders elsewhere. This is the largest available study on referrals to a pediatric nephrology center with a patient cohort that exceeds the previously largest single-center report (1,523 patients over a ten-year period [9]) and even that of the large nationwide study from Venezuela (n=3,624 patients [10]). The features of our health care system enabled us to obtain specific epidemiological information on renal disease in childhood.…”

Alanepe

“…Thirty-two (51.6 %) grafts were living-related donor transplantations (LRDT), and 30 (48.4 %) were deceased donor renal transplantations (DRDT) -28 of them pediatric. The mean age at transplant was 3.7 AE 2.2 years [1- 10,19,20], and the mean weight was 12.3 AE 2.1 kg (5.6-14.9). Ten children weighed <10 kg, and five (8.1 %) children presented previous thrombosis of the venous system.…”

“…The patients were grouped into the following categories: (a) urinary tract infection (32 %), with detection of abnormalities of urinary tract in 25 % of them; (b) metabolic disorders (28 %) mainly idiopathic hypercalciuria and hyperuricosuria; (c) glomerulonephritis (9.5 %); (d) urolitihiasis (7 %); (e) nephritic syndrome (4.5 %); (f) "primary" hematuria (4.2 %); (g) acute renal failure (2.8 %), with 43 % of cases secondary to acute dehydration, 15 % due to birth asphyxia, 14 % secondary to septicemia, and 23 % due to multiple factors); (h) chronic renal failure (1.6 %); and (i) miscellaneous diseases (4.8 %) [10,19,20].…”