Acute kidney injury in the newborn infant: classification, causes and epidemiology

Abstract

In the article are presented classifications, causes and epidemiology of acute kidney injury (AKI) in newborns, unsolved problems. Neonatal AKI classifications proposed by Acute Kidney Injury Network (2007), JG Jetton, DJ Askenazi (2012), modifications from NKC, KDIGO, and AWAKEN (2016), AKI Workshop (2017) are discussed. The results of the international assessment Assessment of Worldwide Acute Kidney Injury Epidemiology in Neonates (AWAKEN), JG Jetton et al (2016, 2017) are discussed. Of the 2022 babies, 605 (30 %) had the status of AKI: in 48 % of the 273 preterm neonates with gestatoinal age 22-29 weeks; 18 % of 916 preterm neonates with gestatoinal age 29-36 weeks; in 37 % of 833 neonates with gestatoinal age after 36 weeks. The risk factors for the development of early AKI in preterm infants include low gestational age and very low birth weight. According to international epidemiological studies, the development of AKI in premature newborns is the main and independent risk factor for mortality and the formation of chronic kidney disease. The absence of multicenter epidemiological studies of acute kidney damage in newborns in our country is still an unsolved problem. The solution of the problem facing the national neonatology should be aimed at ensuring a unified approach to the classifications of acute kidney damage, on studying epidemiology, features of development, course, and outcome of acute kidney damage of various etiologies, on developing algorithms for prevention, diagnosis and treatment in term and preterm infants.