Clinical and Histopathological Analysis of the Kidney Biopsies of 2,450 Patients seen over 30 Years at Chungnam National University Hospital / 대한내과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study evaluated the clinical characteristics of patients who underwent kidney biopsies, and the relative changes in pathological diagnosis, according to time periods over the last 30 years (1981-2010). METHODS: This study included 3,051 patients who were older than 15 years and underwent kidney biopsies at Chungnam University Hospital between January 1981 and December 2010. For analysis, the patients were grouped into three time periods I (1981-1990), II (1991-2000), and III (2001-2010). We reviewed the available medical records of 2,450 patients and analyzed the changes in their clinical characteristics over time. RESULTS: The mean patient age was 35.9 (range 15-91) years and the male-to-female ratio was 1.31. The most common indication for a kidney biopsy was an asymptomatic urinary abnormality (64.2%) and the proportion with this indication increased significantly over time (p < 0.001). Primary glomerular diseases comprised 65.4% of all pathological diagnoses, followed by secondary (13.6%) and hereditary (12.5%) glomerular diseases. The proportion of primary glomerular diseases decreased significantly with time (p < 0.001), while the proportions of secondary and hereditary glomerular diseases increased correspondingly (p < 0.001). IgA nephropathy was the most common pathological diagnosis (36.7%) overall. The proportion of IgA nephropathy increased significantly with time (p < 0.001), while minimal change disease and acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis decreased significantly (p < 0.001 and p = 0.013, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The results demonstrated that the clinical indications and pathological diagnoses in patients who underwent kidney biopsies changed significantly over the last 30 years.