Antecedent renal disease and the outcome of pregnancy.

We assessed the effect of "healed" childhood renal disease on subsequent pregnancies by following-up a cohort of 224 children initially hospitalized with kidney disease. The pregnancy experience in this cohort was compared to two "control" cohorts comprising 81 female siblings and 191 age-matched female patients hospitalized contemporaneously for respiratory infection. The incidence of spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, and pregnancy-associated hypertension was not different among the cohorts; however, the incidence of infants with low birth weights was significantly greater in the renal and respiratory disease groups. Childhood kidney disease followed by impaired renal function (serum creatinine greater than 1.5 mg/dL) was associated with greater maternal and fetal morbidity. Kidney disease in childhood followed by apparent healing and no functional renal impairment does not have an adverse effect on maternal welfare, although the incidence of infants with low birth weight is apparently increased.