Acute Kidney Injury: Classification and Prognosis

Objective: The aim of this study was to use the classification criteria suggested by the Acute Kidney Injury Network in order to define the etiology, clinical features, prognostic factors and results of Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) in pediatric patients and to support the routine application of pediatric-modified RIFLE (pRIFLE) criteria for the classification of AKI. Material and Methods: The patient group comprised 72 patients (42 males, 30 females) of whom 25% were newborns and 75% were children aged >1 month, who were either hospitalized due to a diagnosis of AKI or in whom AKI had developed during hospitalization between May 2008 and July 2010. Results: The median age at the time of AKI was 9.11 months (minimum 0, maximum 216.56 months). The etiology of AKI was dehydration in 30.6%, hypoxia in 19.4%, sepsis in 16.7%, drug-induced in 12.5% and hemolytic uremic syndrome in 9.7%. AKI patients were classified according to the staging system as follows: 15.3% of the patients were in the risk, 25% in the injury, and 59.7% in the failure category. The mortality rate was 26.4%. Male sex, mechanical ventilation, nephrotoxic drugs, hospitalization before the development of AKI, oliguria/anuria and delay in nephrology consultation were found to be associated with increased mortality (p<0.05). Mortality rate was 10.7% for the risk, 31.5% for the injury and 57.8 % for the failure categories. Conclusion: The pRIFLE classification was an effective method in predicting the need for dialysis and hospital mortality.