Pattern of Childhood Renal Diseases in Aba, South East Nigeria

Background: Renal diseases are currently posing a great health concern worldwide. Proper documentation, knowledge of renal disease burdens, and established renal registries will provide data to guide stake-holders in future planning and resource allocation. This study aims at documenting the pattern and outcome of childhood renal diseases admitted at our centre. Methods: This was a prospective study of all childhood renal diseases admitted into the pediatrics wards of the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, Aba, from October 2013 to October 2018. The demographic characteristics of the patients, ingestion of herbal concoctions, clinical presentation, laboratory investigations, diagnosis and management outcomes were documented, and analysed. Result: A total of 6108 children were admitted into the paediatric wards during the study period. One hundred and four (104) of them had renal diseases, accounting for 1.7% of paediatric admissions. There was male preponderance (55.8%) with a Male: Female ratio of 1.3:1. Sex had significant association with renal diseases (p-Value=0.025). The age range was 0.5 – 16 years with a mean age of 7.9±4.5 years. Majority (40.4%) of the patients were aged 5-10 years (p-Value 0.021). Nephrotic Syndrome (47.1%), Acute Kidney Injury (10.6%) and Acute Glomerular Nephritis (10.6%) were the commonest causes of admission. Proteinuria (39.4%), Oedema (39.4%) and Oliguria (26.9%) were the most frequent clinical presentations. Progressive increase in yearly diagnosis of renal diseases was observed. More than 90% of the patients took herbal remedies before presentation (p-Value=0.001). Mortality rate was 4.8%. Causes of death were Chronic Kidney Disease (40%), Acute Kidney Injury (20%), Wilms tumour (20%), and HIVAN (20%). Conclusion: The prevalence of childhood renal diseases in Aba is 1.7%. Nephrotic syndrome is the commonest cause of renal admission in our centre. Ingestion of herbal concoctions by our cohort was high. There was an annual increment in the number of renal disorders in our centre. Preventive nephrology should be adopted to curb the morbidity and mortality from renal diseases worldwide.