Factors associated with early relapses in children with steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome.

Abstract

Objective: To determine different risk factors associated with relapse in children with steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Department of Pediatric Nephrology, The National Institute of Child Health, Karachi. Period: April 2021 to October 2022. Material & Methods: With a sample size of 170 Children aged 1-12 years of either gender were included in the study by non-probability consecutive sampling. Patients who had congenital nephrotic syndrome previously received immunosuppressive treatment or had any other systemic disease leading to nephrotic syndrome were excluded from the study. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for the quantitative variables while chi-square test was applied for the qualitative variables-value of <0.05 was considered significant. Results: The mean age of the patients was 4.87±2.54 years. The majority of the frequent relapsers (76) were male. The mean serum cholesterol of the patients was 318.71±61.61mg/dl. Of the total sample, 37 (21.76%) were infrequent relapsers and 133 (78.23 %) were frequent relapsers. A significant association was found between upper respiratory tract infection and frequent relapse with a p-value of 0.038. Conclusion: Our study showed a significant association between upper respiratory tract infection and relapse in children with steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome.