Background and purpose: Data on the epidemiology of acute kidney injury (ARI) in Asia come primarily from studies conducted in large tertiary hospitals with nephrology departments. Little is known about what happens in primary care settings without nephrology, especially in the paediatric population. The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiology, outcome and risk factors of ARF in children admitted in pediatric department.

Place and Duration: In the Pediatric Medicine and Nephrology department of Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for one-year duration from August 2020 to August 2021.

Methods: We prospectively examined children aged 2 to 14 whose guardians gave the consent for the study and were admitted in the Pediatric ward. We identified children with risk factors for AKI on admission and then tested them for AKI using the 2012 Creatinine-based Modified General Kidney Disease Improvement (KDIGO) criteria to improve overall outcomes. Participants with AKI were followed up to discharge. The subject of interest was the need and access to dialysis and renal recovery on discharge from the hospital.

Results: A total of 74.3% (n = 116) out of the 156 patients admitted during the study period were at risk of ARF. Of the 156 registered participants, 51.9% (n = 81) were males with a mean age of 5 years. Although comorbid conditions were rare, sickle cell anaemia and malnutrition were the most common.  Most of the children were hypotensive (n = 89; 57.1%), with mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures of 81 mmHg and 42 mmHg, respectively. The mean urine output was 0.79 ml / kg / hr. Thirteen patients (8.33%) had urine dipstick anomalies. Anaemia was common (n = 72, 46.2%) and 32 (20.5%) had severe anaemia. Leucocytosis was detected in 26.3% of patients, and a platelet count below 100,000 / mm3 in 24 (15.4%) patients. In total, 21 of 156 participants had AKI for an incidence of 13.5%. The only patient with an indication for dialysis (uremic encephalopathy and anuria> 24 hours) died without dialysis due to a delay in transfer to a dialysis centre (due to lack of resources). Of the 20 survivors in the AKI group, 15 (71.4%) had complete improvement in kidney function The median hospitalization time was significantly longer in participants with stage 3 AKI.

Conclusions: ARF risk factors are very common in children admitted in the hospitals. At least one in 10 children presenting with AKI risk factors will have AKI. AKI is largely caused by community-acquired diseases that can be prevented, such as diarrheal diseases and malaria. Efforts should be made to educate about risk assessment, prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of AKI in children.

Keywords: AKI; epidemiology; risk factors and outcome.