Acute kidney injury is more common in hospitalised children with sickle cell anaemia in Africa.

AIM: To document the prevalence, severity, hospital outcome and factors associated with acute kidney injury (AKI) in hospitalised children with sickle cell anaemia (SCA).

METHODS

In this prospective observational study involving children aged 0.5-17 years with SCA requiring hospitalisation, we used serum creatinine level at 0 and 48 h of hospitalisation to determine the presence of AKI.

RESULTS

The study involved 155 children with SCA aged 0.5-17 years with a median (interquartile range) age of 7.8 (4.3-11.0) years. Acute kidney injury occurred in 27 (17.4%) children with 33.3% reaching stage 3. Hepatomegaly (81.5% vs. 55.4%; p = 0.015), splenomegaly (33.3% vs. 10.9%; p = 0.003), dipstick proteinuria (22.2% vs. 5.4%; p = 0.004), and hematuria (29.6% vs. 3.1%; p = <0.001) were more common in those with AKI. In contrast, children with AKI had lower haematocrit (16.9% vs. 22.2%; p = <0.001) and serum bicarbonate (16.7 vs. 19.1 mmoL/L; p = 0.010) compared with those without AKI. Those with AKI had longer hospital stay (median [interquartile range]: 7 [4-12] days vs. 4 [3-6] days; p = 0.008).

CONCLUSION

AKI is common among hospitalised children with AKI and is associated with longer hospital stay.