Clinical Patterns of Acute Poststreptococcal Glomerulonephritis: A Single Center's Experience

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to investigate the change in incidence and clinical characteristics of acute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis (APSGN) through a single center's experience. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 53 children who were diagnosed with glomerular nephritis at National Health Insurance Corporation Ilsan Hospital between March 2000 and December 2009. Twenty-six of 53 patients falled to meet the dragnostic criteria of APSGN and were excluded. Chief complaints, physical examinations, urinalysis, urine culture, laboratory results, chest x-ray, and clinical manifestations were all retrieved from the remaining 27 patients. RESULTS: The incidence of APSGN by age was highest in children between six to seven years of age, with similar distributions in both genders, and seasonal incidence was higher from November to February when compared to other months, which was similar to the previously reported studies. However, the annual number of APSGN patients did not show a significant decrease from 2000 to 2009. The incidences of edema and hypertension were 59.3% and 48.1% respectively, suggesting lower incidences than those from previous studies. Six patients (22.2%) experienced hematuria for more than 6 months. Hypertensive encephalopathy, one of APSGN critical complications occurred in one patient but resolved with conservative treatment. CONCLUSION: Our study shows that APSGN still occur as a common renal disease but the disease severity seems to decrease with milder clinical manifestations and less complications compared to past studies