Symptoms and signs of kidney diseases in children during COVID-19 pandemic in Slovenia

Aim: The purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence of symptoms and signs of kidney diseases in children in Slovenia and to gain insight into the burden of kidney diseases in children at the primary care level at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The study methodology was cross-sectional. Data were obtained via an anonymous online questionnaire sent to all pri- mary care paediatricians in Slovenia via e-mail. An exact binomial test was used for each symptom case in order to determine whether the proportion of symptoms and/or signs in the sample deviates from the “theoretical” prevalence reported in the literature. Results: Data were obtained from 65 paediatricians and 9829 evaluated children were included in the study. The proportion of chil- dren with some symptoms and signs of kidney diseases, mostly found incidentally, such as haematuria, proteinuria and hyperten- sion were lower than previously described in the literature. There was no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of symp- toms and signs suggesting serious kidney diseases, such as oedema or persistent proteinuria. The most common cause of children’s visit to the outpatient clinics at the primary care level due to symptoms and signs of kidney diseases was urinary tract infection. Conclusions: Children with serious kidney diseases were identified as commonly as described in the literature, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The latter influenced negatively the discovery rate of symptoms and signs of kidney diseases that are found incidentally, such as haematuria, proteinuria and hypertension.