Epidemiology and clinicopathologic characteristics of childhood nephrotic syndrome in Benin-City, Nigeria.

Medical records of 58 children, 38 (65.5%) males and 20 (34.5%) females with nephrotic syndrome (NS) admitted to the paediatric wards of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) Benin-City, Nigeria, between January, 1991 and December, 1995 were reviewed. The aim of the study was to document the epidemiologic as well as certain clinico-pathologic characteristics of the disease in Benin-City. More males than females (ratio of 1.9:1) and older children (mean +/- (SEM) 8.2 +/- 0.5 years; range 2-15 years) were affected. About 62% of the patients were aged 7 years and above. There was a high incidence of hypertension (41.4%) and microscopic haematuria (60%) in the patients. Hypercholesterolaemia and hypoalbuminaemia were seen in only 21.6% and 30.2% of evaluated patients respectively. Hypercholesterolaemia and hypoalbuminaemia as diagnostic criteria for NS in our locale may not be very useful. About 51.7% of patients responded to the initial course of prednisolone, out of whom 43.3% relapsed (26.7%) frequently and 16.7% infrequently. Mortality rate was 6.9%. Urinary tract infection (UTI) occurred in 44.8% of the patients and was caused largely by Staphylococcus aureus and untyped coliform organisms.