The spectrum of chronic kidney disease (stages 2-5) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

The burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in children in developing countries remains unknown, due to the lack of a national data-reporting system. We undertook a retrospective study of all children < 16 years old in our hospital, which is the tertiary referral centre for children with complex kidney disorders, to analyse the spectrum of CKD (stages 2-5) from 1994-2006. Six hundred and fifty-three children with kidney disorders were screened for CKD; 286 (44.0%) were < 5 years old. Of these, 177 (62%) were male, 202 (70.6%) were black, 77 (26.9%) were Indian, five (1.8%) were mixed race and two (0.7%) were white. One hundred and twenty-six children had CKD (stages 2-5); 55 (43.7%) were < 5 years olds; 41 (74.5%) were male. There were 71 (56.3%) that were > 5 years old, 42 (59.2%) were male. The commonest cause of CKD (stages 2-5) in all children was nephrotic syndrome, comprising 30.9% in children < 5 years old and 40.8% in children > 5 years old. Within the observation period of 11 years, end-stage kidney disease was diagnosed in 20 children; only nine had been on long-term dialysis, and seven qualified for transplantation. Five (25%) children had died, four from sepsis during dialysis and one from tuberculosis after receiving a transplant. We concluded that lack of resources, late referrals, and high cost of renal replacement therapy in developing countries leads to poor outcome in CKD.