Community-acquired acute kidney injury in adults in Africa

Dwomoa Adu, Perditer Okyere, Vincent Boima, Michael Matekole, Charlotte Osafo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Aims: We review recent published data on demographics, causes, diagnoses, treatment, and outcome of acute kidney injury (AKI) in Africa. Methods: A review of the incidence, etiology, diagnoses, and treatment of AKI in adults in Africa from studies published between the years 2000 and 2015. Results: The incidence of AKI in hospitalized patients in Africa ranges from 0.3 to 1.9% in adults. Between 70 and 90% of cases of AKI are community acquired. Most patients with AKI are young with a weighted mean age of 41.3 standard deviation (SD) 9.3 years, and a male to female ratio of 1.2: 1.0. Medical causes account for between 65 and 80% of causes of AKI. This is followed by obstetric causes in 5 - 27% of cases and surgical causes in 2 - 24% of cases. In the reported studies, between 17 and 94% of patients who needed dialysis received this. The mortality of AKI in adults in Africa ranged from 11.5 to 43.5%. Conclusions: Most reported cases of AKI in Africa originate in the community. The low incidence of hospital-acquired AKI is likely to be due to under ascertainment. Most patients with AKI in Africa are young and have a single precipitating cause. Prominent among these are infection, pregnancy complications and nephrotoxins. Early treatment can improve clinical outcomes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)48-52
Number of pages5
JournalClinical Nephrology
Volume86
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2016

Keywords

  • Acute kidney injury
  • Africa
  • Infection
  • Nephrotoxins
  • Pregnancy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Community-acquired acute kidney injury in adults in Africa'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this