AKI more common in non-critically ill pediatric patients than previous research indicates
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WASHINGTON — Data presented at ASN Kidney Week indicated the incidence of acute kidney injury is higher for non-critically ill hospitalized pediatric patients than indicated by previous research.
“We were interested in studying pediatric patients in the non-critically ill setting, because we think there is a lack of awareness of acute kidney injury in this population,” Tai Minh Pham, MD, of Valley Children’s Hospital in California, told Healio Nephrology. “There was only one other publication that studied our population specifically, which determined the incidence of AKI to be 5%.”
Researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study of 1,223 patients aged between 2 weeks and 18 years who were admitted to the non-critically ill hospitalist service at Valley Children’s Hospital. To be eligible for the study, patients could not have a history of CKD or an ICU admission at any time of their hospitalization. They were also required to have two or more serum creatinine values.
AKI was first identified in patients using KDIGO criteria (serum creatinine increase by 0.3mg/dL within 48 hours or increase by at least 1.5 times the baseline within 7 days). Charts were reviewed to determine whether providers had identified AKI during admission.
Researchers found that while 132 (10.8%) patients met the KDIGO criteria for AKI, providers identified AKI in 51 patients (37.8%). They argued this finding suggests possible limitations of applying KDIGO diagnosis criteria in the clinical setting.
Further, Pham said, “there needs to be more awareness of AKI in the acute care setting on the pediatric floor. These children are exposed to a lot of nephrotoxic medications, which puts them at risk for developing AKI.”– by Melissa J. Webb
Reference:
Pham TM, et al. Abstract FR-PO033. Presented at: ASN Kidney Week; Nov. 7-10, 2019; Washington, D.C.
Disclosure: Pham reports no relevant financial disclosures.