Urinary screening for asymptomatic renal disorders in pre-school children in Enugu metropolis, South-East Nigeria : useful or useless

Abstract EN

To evaluate the usefulness of simple screening tests such as urinalysis and blood pressure measurement in the early detection of renal disorders in pre-School children, we used a multi–staged random sampling method to select subjects from registered nursery schools within Enugu metropolis in south-east Nigeria.

We selected 630 children for this cohort study.

There was a prevalence of 2.7 %, 0 % and 1.9% for asymptomatic proteinuria, hematuria and hypertension, respectively.

There was no age, gender or social class preponderance (P = 0.44).

Hypertension seemed to be limited to children close to the age group of five years (P <0.001).

No correlations could be documented between asymptomatic proteinuria, hematuria or hypertension.

The prevalence of persistent proteinuria was found to be 1.6% and the mean urinary protein excretion estimation (spot urine protein/creatinine) was 1.88 g/mg ± 0.53, with a mean glomerular filtration rate of 78.7 ± 12.6 mL / min / 1.73 m3.

Renal ultrasonography revealed abnormal findings in 30 % of the children with persistent proteinuria.

Asymptomatic persistent proteinuria with or without hematuria and hypertension could be a presumptive evidence of an underlying renal parenchymal disease and should be properly investigated and followed-up.