ABSTRACT
Introduction: Nephrotic syndrome is a clinical picture characterized by severe proteinuria, hypoalbuminemia, edema and hypercholesterolemia. A retrospective study was carried out in order to describe disease pattern in newly diagnosed nephrotic syndrome of children admitted to Tripoli children hospital during the year 2014.Methods: The medical data of 56 patients aged between 1 year and 11 years diagnosed with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome were analysed using SPSS software. The data included gender differences, sensitivity to steroid therapy, relapses during six months of follow up and the effect of variable factors such as family history, hypertension, hematuria, serum urea on the degree of relapse.Results: Out of 56 patients with newly diagnosed nephrotic syndrome (NS), 60.7% were boys and 39.3% were girls, with a mean age 4.2±2.2 years. Age was related significantly to the response to steroid therapy, where 79.5% of patients aged between 2-8 years (group 1) had steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome (SSNS) compared with only 41.7% of patients aged less than 2 years or more than 8 years (group 2) (P<0.001). Although girls relapsed more than boys (70.5% versus 57.1%) during six months of therapy, this difference was not statistically significant. Similarly, no other factors measured such as family history of NS, hypertension, hematuria, serum complement and urea had any effect on the percentage of relapse in patients with newly diagnosed NS. Conclusion: NS is one of the commonest reasons for admission to nephrology ward. It is more common in boys than girls. The age at presentation related significantly to the response to steroidal therapy. Regarding relapses, girls seems to relapse more frequent than boys and relapses was seen more in age group 1 than group 2, however, these differences were not significant. Other factors studied seems to have no effect on the relapse rate of children with newly diagnosed NS