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Clinical and pathological features of immunoglobulin A nephropathy patients with nephrotic syndrome

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Abstract

IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the most common glomerulonephritis worldwide. The classic manifestation of IgAN is episodic hematuria and proteinuria. Nephrotic syndrome (NS) is not very common in IgAN, reported to occur in only 5–10% of IgAN patients. However, the clinical and pathological characteristics and long-term outcomes of patients with NS-IgAN at onset remain unknown. A retrospective study was conducted, enrolling 1165 patients with biopsy-proven IgAN from West China Hospital in 2008–2015. Patients with renal biopsy of minimal change disease with mesangial IgA deposits were excluded. The renal endpoint was defined as 50% decrease in eGFR or progressing into end-stage renal disease (ESRD). A total of 1165 patients were enrolled with average age of 34.58, and 171 (14.7%) patients were presented with NS. Comparing NS and non-NS groups, significance differences were shown in hypertension (HTN), 24-h urine protein, serum albumin, serum creatine, eGFR and uric acid. NS group had severe pathological changes such as endocapillary hypercellularity, tubular atrophy or interstitial fibrosis and crescent, but less segmental glomerulosclerosis or adhesion and global sclerosis. During the average follow-up of 44.27 months, 29.8% (51/171) NS patients and 15.8% (157/994) non-NS patients progressed to the renal endpoint. 5-year renal survival rates were 73.1% and 87.8% (P < 0.001) in NS and non-NS groups, respectively. This study demonstrated that IgAN patients with NS had higher serum creatine, lower eGFR, lower uric acid, more acute lesions and poor prognosis. NS was an independent risk factor for progression to the renal endpoint.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank all of the participants and attending physicians for their contributions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Nephrology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, 37th Guoxuexiang Road, Chengdu, 610041, China

    Xin Han, Yi Tang & Wei Qin

  2. West China School of Medicine, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

    Yi Xiao, Xiaonan Zheng & Mawluda Anwar

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  1. Xin Han
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  2. Yi Xiao
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  3. Yi Tang
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  4. Xiaonan Zheng
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  5. Mawluda Anwar
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  6. Wei Qin
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Contributions

XH, YT and WQ conceived and designed the study. YT and WQ provided the administrative support. XH, YX, XZ and MA collected and assembled the data. XH, YX and XZ analyzed and interpreted the data. All authors participated in manuscript writing and gave final approval for the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Wei Qin.

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The research was in compliance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the ethical committee of West China Hospital of Sichuan University.

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Han, X., Xiao, Y., Tang, Y. et al. Clinical and pathological features of immunoglobulin A nephropathy patients with nephrotic syndrome. Clin Exp Med 19, 479–486 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10238-019-00580-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10238-019-00580-9

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