Journal of Nephrology & Therapeutics

Echocardiographic Findings in Children with Chronic Kidney Disease as Seen in a Resource -Limited Setting

Abstract

Daberchi Kenneth Adiele ,Henrietta Uchenna Okafor ,Ngozi Chinyelu Ojinnaka ,Basden Jones C Onwubere ,Odutola Israel Odetunde *,Samuel Nkachukwu Uwaezuoke

Background: Echocardiographic detectable cardiac abnormalities were studied to provide a platform for future longitudinal and interventional studies of children with Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in the south- east region of Nigeria.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of echocardiographic screening of children aged between 6 and 17 years with CKD and selected age and sex matched controls that were consecutively enrolled from the Pediatric nephrology clinic of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Enugu, Nigeria.

Results: Of the 9,419 patients within the age group 6-17 years who were seen at UNTH during the period of the study, 24 had CKD, giving an incidence of approximately 5 new cases per million-child population per year and a prevalence of 18.4 per million children population with a mean age of 12.33 + 4.24 years. Lower mean ejection fraction (EFrac%) values and E/A (transmitral flow velocity ratio) ratio were documented in patients compared to controls (p<0.01). Echocardiographic detectable cardiac abnormalities occurred in 22 (91.7%) of the patients and in 4 (16.7%) of the controls (p<0.01). The most common abnormality was left ventricular hypertrophy in 12 patients (50.0%) with 8 (66.6%) of 12 children having eccentric and 4 (33.3%) having concentric hypertrophy.

Conclusions: This study shows that echocardiographic detectable cardiac abnormalities in children with CKD in the sub-region, is comparable to those of the other parts of the world with eccentric hypertrophy being more prevalent than concentric hypertrophy.