Clinical Signs and Causes of Chronic Kidney Disease in Pediatrics

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a worldwide medical condition with increasing frequency that impairs the quality of life of children. This study aimed to assess the clinical signs and causes of CKD in children in Zahedan, Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was run on 489 children up to 20 years with stages of 3 to 5 CKDs, in Zahedan during 2010-2019. Informed written consent was obtained from the patients’ parents. Data analysis was performed by SPSS 20 considering 0.05 as significant level. Results: Amongst the clinical manifestations, edema (16.4%), (FTT) (13.5%), urinary symptoms (12.3%) and vomiting (11.5%) were more common and congenital structural anomalies (41.7%) were the most common cause of hospital admission. From among the studied children with CKD, 65.8% had stage 5, about 44.4% had conservative treatment and in total, 19.00% died. Most of the laboratory parameters were different in death and survival cases, for instance, Systolic and diastolic BP were higher in deaths when platelet blood was lower. Main causes of CKD (congenital structural anomalies, cystic/hereditary/congenital disease, glomerular diseases, Renal Tubular Disease, unknown origin and stone) had a significant association with gender (X2=13.42, p=0.02), treatments (X2=70.77, p 0.001), stage of CKD (X2=40.31, p 0.001) and survival (X2=11.59, p=0.041). Stages of CKD had a significant relation with treatment (X2=118.18, p 0.001), and survival (X2=26.5, p 0.001). Conclusion: The causes of CKD were significantly associated with treatments, stage of CKD, and survival. Stages of CKD had significant associations with treatment and survival. Therefore, more attention to children with these signs is essential for early diagnosis and proper treatment.