Clinical profile and outcome of acute kidney injury related to pregnancy in developing countries: A single-center study from India

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the most challenging and serious complications of pregnancy. We present our experience on the clinical profile and outcome of 57 patients with pregnancy-related AKI, of a total of 580 patients with AKI seen during the study period. This is a prospective single-center study in a civil hospital conducted from January to December 2010. The most common age group of the study patients was 20-25 years; 43.8% of the patients had received antenatal care. AKI was observed in the puerperium (n = 34), early pregnancy (n = 10) and late pregnancy (n = 13). The cause of AKI included puerperal sepsis (63.1%), pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) (33.33%), post-abortion (22.80%), ante-partum hemorrhage (APH) (14%) and post-partum hemorrhage (PPH) (8%). Complete, partial and no renal recovery was observed in 52.64%, 21.05% and 26.31% of the patients, respectively. Low platelet count and plasma fibrinogen and high bilirubin, D-dimer and activated partial thromboplast in time were observed more commonly in patients with partial recovery. Of the 57 patients, 50 received hemodialysis, three received peritoneal dialysis and seven patients were managed conservatively. A total of 13 patients developed cortical necrosis that was associated with sepsis in six, PPH and pre-eclampsia/eclampsia in three patients each and APH in one. Nine patients died, and the cause of death was septicemia in four, pre-eclampsia in three and APH and PPH in one patient each. In our study, puerperal sepsis was the most common etiological factor for pregnancy-related AKI. Prolonged oliguria or anuria were bad prognostic factors for renal recovery. Sepsis, thrombocytopenia, disseminated intra-vascular coagulation and liver involvement were associated with increased mortality.