title: IgA nephropathy: 23 years of follow-up.
abstract: IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common primary glomerulonephritis. Some patients reach end-stage renal failure (ESRF), others experience an indolent course. We aimed the study to examine the association of risk factors with the progression to renal failure. Eighty patients diagnosed with IgAN by renal biopsy (RB) were studied. Baseline clinical and demographic data were reviewed. Severity of histological involvement was scored as H. S. Lee's grading system. The mean age of patients at biopsy was 36.65 +/- 8.83 years with predominance of men (male : female, 58 : 22). Patients were followed-up from 6 months to 23 years (276 months). An end-point was defined as the date when patient underwent their first haemodialysis or their last visit of follow-up. The differences in means between groups were compared by independent samples t-tests or one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox regression models were used to analyze the time course from renal biopsy to end points. The largest subclasses were grade I and II, with 31 patient each. Subclass III was observed in 12 patents. Subclass IV and V were found in 3 patients each. During the follow-up period, all patients with grade IV and V (after 6-48 months), five patients grade I (after 60-144 months), four patients grade II (after 48-84 months), and 7 patients from grade III (after 24-108 months) entered ESRD. Mean prioteinuria was 1.68 +/- 0.99 g/day. Macrohematuria had 32; microhematuria had 48 pts. The mean serum creatinine was 148.02 +/- 68.76 micromol/l. By multivariate analysis using the Cox regression model, grades, renal insufficiency and significant proteinuria were independent prognostic factors for progressive renal disease. At the end of follow-up, grades were significantly related to serum creatinine, proteinuria, hypertension and progressive renal disease. Renal biopsy in IgAN may be the most powerful predictor for renal outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Clinical Centre, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje, R. Macedonia.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Milovanceva-Popovska
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Grcevska
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dzikova
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ristovska
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nikolov
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Polenakovic
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005922:Glomerulonephritis, IGA / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate