title: Urinary screening for asymptomatic renal disorders in pre-school children in Enugu metropolis, South-east Nigeria: Useful or useless.
abstract: To evaluate the usefulness of simple screening tests such as urinalysis and blood pressure measurement in the early detection of renal disorders in pre-School children, we used a multi-staged random sampling method to select subjects from registered nursery schools within Enugu metropolis in south-east Nigeria. We selected 630 children for this cohort study. There was a prevalence of 2.7%, 0% and 1.9% for asymptomatic proteinuria, hematuria and hypertension, respectively. There was no age, gender or social class preponderance (P = 0.44). Hypertension seemed to be limited to children close to the age group of five years (P <0.001). No correlations could be documented between asymptomatic proteinuria, hematuria or hypertension. The prevalence of persistent proteinuria was found to be 1.6% and the mean urinary protein excretion estimation (spot urine protein/creatinine) was 1.88 g/mg ± 0.53, with a mean glomerular filtration rate of 78.7 ± 12.6 mL/min/1.73 m³ . Renal ultrasonography revealed abnormal findings in 30% of the children with persistent proteinuria. Asymptomatic persistent proteinuria with or without hematuria and hypertension could be a presumptive evidence of an underlying renal parenchymal disease and should be properly investigated and followed-up.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Nephrology Unit, Department of Pediatrics, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku Ozalla, Enugu, Nigeria.
authors.forename: Odutola Israel
authors.initials: OI
authors.lastname: Odetunde
authors.forename: Oluwatoyin Arinola
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Odetunde
authors.forename: Emeka Ernest
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Neboh
authors.forename: Henrietta Uche
authors.initials: HU
authors.lastname: Okafor
authors.forename: Ngozi Rosemary
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Njeze
authors.forename: Jonathan Chukwuemeka
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Azubuike
mesh_terms: D058070:Asymptomatic Diseases; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006417:Hematuria / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D009549:Nigeria; D015995:Prevalence; D011507:Proteinuria / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population