title: Increasing prevalence of membranous nephropathy in patients with primary glomerular diseases: A cross-sectional study in China.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Primary glomerular disease (PGD) remains the most common renal disease in China. A limited number of single centre studies show that the frequency of membranous nephropathy (MN) has increased; however, IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is still the most common PGD. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no multi-centre study in China that has explored the changes in PGD spectrum. To further investigate the changes in renal histopathological spectrum, we performed the cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  From June 2010 to May 2015, 5935 patients from 37 hospitals in Shandong Province were involved in this retrospective study. The study was divided into five periods according to 1-year intervals. The patients were divided into four age groups (≤18 years, 19-44 years, 45-59 years and ≥60 years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among the 5935 qualified specimens, 4855 (81.8%) were diagnosed with PGD. MN (43.3%) became the most common PGD instead of IgA (34.1%) (P < 0.001). The frequency of MN was increased from 30.7% in period 1 to 53.5% in period 5 (P < 0.001). The prevalence of MN tended to increase in every age section. IgA was the main cause of PGD in periods 1 and 2; however, its proportion decreased significantly from 41.8% in period 2 to 25.2% in period 5 (P < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Primary glomerular disease remains the most common renal disease in our study. For the first time, this cross-sectional study suggests that MN, in place of IgAN, has grown to be the first leading pathological type of PGD.
authors: Department of Nephrology, Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
authors: Lijun
authors: L
authors: Tang
authors: The Blood Purification Center, Shandong Veterans General Hospital, Jinan, China.
authors: Jing
authors: J
authors: Yao
authors: Department of Nephrology, Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
authors: Xianglei
authors: X
authors: Kong
authors: Department of Pathology, Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
authors: Qing
authors: Q
authors: Sun
authors: Department of Nephrology, Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
authors: Zunsong
authors: Z
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Nephrology, Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
authors: Ying
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Nephrology, Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
authors: Ping
authors: P
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Nephrology, Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
authors: Yipeng
authors: Y
authors: Liu
authors: Department of Nephrology, Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
authors: Wenbin
authors: W
authors: Li
authors: Department of Nephrology, Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
authors: Meiyu
authors: M
authors: Cui
authors: Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
authors: Junhui
authors: J
authors: Zhen
authors: Department of Nephrology, Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong University, Jinan, China.
authors: Dongmei
authors: D
authors: Xu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001706:Biopsy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005922:Glomerulonephritis, IGA / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015433:Glomerulonephritis, Membranous / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007668:Kidney / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: IgA nephropathy; histopathology; membranous nephropathy; primary glomerular diseases