Henoch Schönlein Purpura / Ig A Vasculitis in Children and Risk Factors for Renal Involvement

Abstract

Objective: Henoch Schönlein Purpura also known as IgA vasculitis is the most common form of pediatric vasculitis and renal involvement is responsible for the mortality and long-term morbidity. We aimed to describe the epidemiological, clinical, and laboratory characteristics of patients with IgAV and analyze the predicting factors associated with renal involvement.

Materials and Methods: This study included188 children diagnosed with IgA vasculitis. Demographical, and clinical data were retrospectively reviewed from the patient files.

Results: Of the 188 IgA vasculitis patients, 51.6% were female. The mean±SD age at diagnosis was 8.49±3.35 years, and 66% of them were diagnosed before 10 years of age. All the patients had palpable purpura, 35.6% had arthritis, 34.6% had gastrointestinal system involvement, 12.2% had renal disorders, at the time of diagnosis. Besides 23(12.2%) patients presented with renal involvement, 42(22%) patients developed renal involvement at follow-up. Patients under 10 years of age had significantly more arthritis, patients over 10 years of age had significantly more renal involvement. Among laboratory work-up, erythrocyte sedimentation rate levels were found significantly higher in patients with renal involvement. In multivariate analysis, the occurrence of renal involvement was not associated with any of the defined demographic and clinical characteristics of the disease. Although erythrocyte sedimentation rate levels showed a higher risk ratio, it has only borderline significance.

Conclusion: Although IgA vasculitis is a self-limiting disease, renal involvement can cause serious complications. In the presented study, being older than 10 years of age and having high levels of erythrocyte sedimentation rate at the time of diagnosis could serve as a possible predictor of renal involvement.