Objective: The purpose of this study was to find out the aetiology of end-stage renal failure (ESRF) in children in Jordan.

 

Subjects and methods: This was a multicentre retrospective study at five participating hospitals. Data collection included medical record review for age, gender, aetiology of ESRF, modality of renal replacement therapy (RRT) and outcome. End-stage renal failure was defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 15 ml/min/1.73 m2.

 

Results: There were 275 children with ESRF. Males were 131 and females 144. The most common causes of ESRF in children were congenital anomalies of the kidney and urinary tract (CAKUT), 56.0%, heredofamilial disorders, 23.2% and glomerulopathies, 22.9%. Neurogenic bladder, reflux nephropathy and posterior urethral valve accounted for 16.8%, 12.7% and 4.0%, respectively. Amongst the heredofamilial disorders, primary oxalosis and cystic disease accounted for 8.0% and 7.2% of the aetiologies of ESRF, respectively. Focal segmental glomerulosclerosis was the most common histological type amongst the glomerulopathies (10.2%), followed by mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis (4.7%), and chronic glomerulonephritis (3.0%). The aetiology was unknown in 4% of the cases. The modality of dialysis included isolated peritoneal dialysis (PD) in 30.9%, isolated haemodialysis (HD) in 49.1%, alternating peritoneal and haemodialysis in 9.1%, transplanted in 8.7% and conservative treatment in 1.8%. Death occurred in 57.3% of PD patients versus 34.4% in HD patients.

 

Conclusion: This is the first report on the aetiology of ESRF in children in Jordan. The most common aetiologies of ESRF in Jordan were CAKUT, 56.0%, heredofamilial disorders, 23.2% and glomerulopathies, 22.9%.