TITLE:
Determining the Bulk of the Iceberg of Proteinuric Chronic Kidney Disease in School Children, in South West Nigeria
AUTHORS:
Adebukola Ajite, Wasiu Olowu
KEYWORDS:
Persistent Proteinuria, Chronic Kidney Disease, Glomerular Damage
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Pediatrics,
Vol.13 No.3,
May
9,
2023
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Chronic kidney disease [CKD], as defined by the
National Kidney Foundation/Kidney Disease and Outcome Quality
Initiative (KDOQI) Group, refers to bilateral kidney injury and/or
impaired kidney function of at least 3 months duration. Persistent proteinuria
has been recognized as one of the early markers of chronic kidney disease and
has been associated with persistent and progressive damage in both children and
adult. This study was conducted with the aim of determining the prevalence and
severity of persistent proteinuria over three months in primary school children
in Ile-Ife. It was a cross-sectional study done over a period of six months.
The subjects were 1335 primary school pupils, aged 6 to 14 years selected by
multi stage random sampling method from twelve primary schools from a total of
96,301 pupils in the two Local Government Areas (LGA) of Ile-Ife, after meeting
the recruitment criteria. The biodata, physical examination, blood pressure
measurements and urine testing by dipstick were carried out on all the
recruited pupils according to standard protocols while serial monitoring of
proteinuria and estimated glomerular filtration rate was done for those with
persistent proteinuria over 6 months. Results: Initially 34 (2.6%) of
the subjects recruited had significant proteinuria with a M:F ratio of 1:1.6
following first screening and it was persistent in six (0.4%) of them
subsequently over three months with a M:F ratio of 1:1.5. The severity of the
persistent proteinuria was in the range of 30 mg/dL to 100 mg/dL. Three of them
(50%) had worsened level of proteinuria from 30 mg/dL to
100 mg/dl on follow up. Conclusion: Children with undetected
persistent proteinuria stand the risk of further glomerular damage over time.