Clinicopathologic features, chronic renal damage, and short-term outcomes of glomerular diseases in a middle east tertiary care center

Background Glomerular diseases (GDs) place a significant burden on patients and health care systems, and they are a leading cause of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) globally. There is no national register for GDs in Egypt, and the outcomes of GDs are not extensively examined. As a result, studying GD patterns and outcomes, as well as the association between chronic renal injury at presentation and GD outcomes, was of great interest. Patients and methods Patients with biopsy-proven GDs presenting to an Egyptian tertiary care center were enrolled and prospectively followed up for 6 months, until death or reaching ESRD. Chronic renal damage was assessed at diagnosis by calculating the total renal chronicity. Results A total of 66 individuals with biopsy-confirmed GDs were enrolled in the study. Unexplained decrease in kidney function (62%), subnephrotic (23%), and nephrotic presentation (15%) were the most common reasons for a renal biopsy. The most common histological patterns were diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis (GN), membranoproliferative GN, and sclerosing GN. Primary and secondary GDs made up 30.3 and 69.7% of the cases, respectively. At the end of the 6-month follow-up, 28 patients had recovered their renal function, 19 had advanced to ESRD, and seven had died. Hemoglobin level and the total renal chronicity score were the best ways to predict how well the kidneys would get better. Conclusion In this tertiary care center Egyptian cohort, secondary GDs appeared to be more frequent than primary GDs, diffuse proliferative GN was the most common histopathological pattern, and rapid renal recovery was not the rule in this short period. The renal chronicity score could accurately predict the renal outcome.