Long-term prognosis of chronic glomerulonephritis.

The dependence of actuarial survival rates on morphological and clinical manifestation of chronic glomerulonephritis (CGN) has been studied in 520 patients followed up for 2-42 years. In grouping the patients along two signs--histological lesion and relapse incidence--the survival in different morphological forms of CGN was found to be similarly dependent on the illness activity. It was high in rare and the lowest in frequent and persisting relapses. Hypertension, high-grade tubulo-interstitial changes and sclerosis over 50 per cent of glomeruli indicate a poor prognosis as signs of severe renal damage under which each relapse may hasten the lethal outcome. Identification of the histological appearance is of high importance in CGN prognosis because of their different manifestations and tendency to relapse.