Nephrol Dial Transplant (2003) 18: 2686-2687
© 2003 European Renal Association-European Dialysis and Transplant Association
Letter
Adult polycystic kidney disease in patients on haemodialysis in the south of Brazil
1Postgraduate Program in Nephrology 2Postgraduate Program in Genetics and Molecular Biology 3Faculty of Medicine Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul Porto Alegre Brazil Email: ane_nunes{at}hotmail.com
Sir,
About 5–10% of chronic dialysis patients have adult dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). Few epidemiological data on this disease are available in Brazil. The purpose of our investigation was to study the prevalence of ADPKD in Porto Alegre, a city in the south of Brazil.
Case. We studied patients in 15 haemodialysis centers, searching in particular for patients who had a family history and imaging findings compatible with the diagnosis of ADPKD. The control group was composed of patients who were also on dialysis but did not have evidence of this hereditary disease.
Of the 975 adult patients that composed the study population, 74 had ADPKD as the primary cause of chronic renal failure, corresponding to 7.6% of the total dialysis patient population in Porto Alegre (Table 1).
|
Comment. In Brazil, epidemiological data about ADPKD have only been collected for the state of São Paulo, showing a prevalence rate of 3% in dialysis patients [1]. This prevalence is well below that found in our study and also those in American and European studies. This may be a consequence of either incomplete assessment or a different ethnic composition of the population in São Paulo.
Similar findings to ours have been published in other countries. In the USA, 8–10% of dialysis patients have this diagnosis [2]. In European studies, the prevalence of this pathology is about 10% [3]. As the majority of the Porto Alegre population is of European descent, we can state our data are compatible with data from other white populations. A lower prevalence is found in Asia, where only 2.5–3.2% of dialysis patients have ADPKD [4].
ADPKD affects both sexes similarly [4]. In our sample, there were more men (53%) than women (47%). This difference, though not significant, may be partially explained by the higher number of men than women in chronic dialysis programmes.
Conflict of interest statement. None declared.
References
- Sesso R, Anção MS, Madeira SA. Aspectos epidemiológico do tratamento dialítico na grande São Paulo. Revista da Associação Médica do Brasil 1994; 40: 10–14
- Gabow P. Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. N Engl J Med 1993; 329: 332–342
[Free Full Text] - Dalgaard OZ, Søren N. Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease in the 1980s. Clin Genet 1989; 36: 320–325[Web of Science][Medline]
- Higashira E, Nutahara K, Kojima M, et al. Prevalence and renal prognosis of diagnosed autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease in Japan. Nephron 1998; 80: 421–427[CrossRef][Medline]
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||