Study of some prognostic factors of progress to end-stage renal failure in patients with rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis in Hasheminejad hospital

Introduction: Rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis (RPGN) is a rare but important renal disease that can rapidly cause irreparable renal failure. The disease has various causes and hence our attempt to study on prognostic factors of renal failure in these patients. The aim of this study is to find some prognostic factors of progress to end-stage renal failure in patients. Materials and Methods: In this study, the patients with proved RPGN, on the basis of renal biopsy results, who had come to the hospital from July 2002 to July 2004, were identified and studied. Some factors including creatinine were measured and kept in records of each patient referred for this study. They were followed-up for 9 months looking for occurrence of end stage renal disease (ESRD). Patients who reached ESRD in less than 9 months were not followed-up further. Those who were followed-up for less than 9 months or died before that were also excluded. Thus, only 22 patients were included. Results: Incidence of ESRD during the nine months period of followed-up in patients with creatinine level of more than 5.7 mg% was higher that in patients with levels equal to or lower than 5.7 mg%. (91.7% VS 40%, P=0.015). Also, average of creatinine levels upon referral in patients who developed ESRD in the following 9 months were significantly higher that those who did not (6.59 mg% VS 2.75 mg%, P=0.008), which confirms the value of creatinine as a prognostic factor in RPGN patients, as mentioned in previous similar studies. Other prognostic factors did not show any meaningful difference in this study. Conclusion: The above results show that creatinine levels higher that 5.7 mg % upon referral in patients with RPGN can be used as a helpful prognostic factor in prediction of development of ESRD, even despite treatment, in these patients.