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Background/aim: We assess the impact of serum creatinine at baseline on complete remission rate and long-term outcome in severe lupus nephritis (SLN).

Methods: A total of 86 adult patients with SLN [International Society of Nephrology/Renal Pathology Society (ISN/RPS) class IV lesions] were evaluated based on baseline serum creatinine levels (≤1.0, 1.01-1.5, 1.51-2.0, 2.01-3.0, and >3.0 mg/dl; n = 22, 23, 16, 12, and 13, respectively). The complete remission rates (serum creatinine level of ≤1.4 mg/dl and proteinuria of ≤0.33 g/day) and long-term outcomes (stable renal function, dialysis, and death) were compared. The patients were followed for 121 ± 64 months.

Results: The baseline clinical features were similar, but the chronicity index was significantly higher with increasing levels of serum creatinine. Complete remission rates were significantly higher in patients with lower levels of serum creatinine (86 vs. 52 vs. 19 vs. 25 vs. 0%, p < 0.0001). Patients with a baseline serum creatinine level of ≤1.0 mg/dl were >16 times as likely (OR 16.2; 95% CI: 4.2-61.5) to attain a complete remission and >6 times as likely (OR 6.1; 95% CI: 1.9-18.6) to have stable renal function at the last follow-up as compared to patients with a serum creatinine level of >1.0 mg/dl. The 15-year renal survival rate was greatest among those patients with a baseline serum creatinine level of ≤1.0 mg/dl (76 vs. 57 vs. 48 vs. 25 vs. 10%, p < 0.0001).

Conclusion: The prognosis of SLN is significantly affected by the serum creatinine level at baseline. The complete remission rate is highest, and the long-term prognosis most favorable, in patients with a baseline serum creatinine level of ≤1.0 mg/dl. This emphasizes the importance of early diagnosis and treatment.

Purpose: Uranium is a heavy metal with alpha radioactivity. We state the hypothesis that uranium exposure is harmful to human kidneys and carcinogenic to body tissues. Therefore, we review epidemiological studies from people with known long-lasting uranium exposure.

Materials and methods: Three meta-analyses are performed using clinical studies published in the PubMed database and applying RevMan 5.3 from the Cochrane Collaboration to calculate the outcome. The first two meta-analyses examine the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) and the standardized incidence ratio for any cancers of uranium workers who were operating in areas ranging from uranium processing to the assembly of final uranium products. The third meta-analysis evaluates the nephrotoxic risk in uranium workers as well as soldiers and of individuals with exposure to drinking water containing uranium.

Results: Overall and contrasting to our hypothesis, the tumor risk is significantly lower for uranium workers than for control groups (SMR = 0.90 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.84 to 0.96). In addition and also contrasting to our hypothesis, the risk of nephrotoxicity is not increased either. This holds for both the incidence and the mortality due to renal cell carcinoma or due to acute kidney injury or chronic kidney disease. In contrast, a significantly better creatinine clearance is found for the uranium cohort as compared to the control groups (mean difference = 7.66 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.12 to 15.2).

Conclusion: Our hypothesis that a chronic uranium exposure is associated with an increased risk of cancer mortality or of kidney failure is refuted by clinical data. The decreased risk may result from better medical surveillance of uranium workers.

Background/aims: Acute kidney injury (AKI) frequently occurs in hospitalized patients. In this study, we determined prehospitalization characteristics associated with AKI in community-dwelling adults hospitalized for a serious infection.

Methods: We used prospective data from 30,239 participants of the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, a national cohort of community-dwelling adults ≥45 years old. We identified serious infection hospitalizations between 2003 and 2012. Using the Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) criteria, we defined AKI as an increase in serum creatinine (sCr) ≥0.3 mg/dl from the first inpatient sCr measurement during the first 7 hospitalization days. We excluded individuals with a history of renal transplant or preexisting end-stage renal disease as well as individuals with <2 sCr measurements. We identified baseline characteristics (sociodemographics, health behaviors, chronic medical conditions, biomarkers, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory, statin, or antihypertensive medication use) independently associated with AKI events using multivariable generalized estimating equations.

Results: Over a median follow-up of 4.5 years (interquartile range 2.4-6.3), we included 2,074 serious infection hospitalizations among 1,543 individuals. AKI occurred in 296 of 2,074 hospitalizations (16.5%). On multivariable analysis, prehospitalization characteristics independently associated with AKI among individuals hospitalized for a serious infection included a history of diabetes [odds ratio (OR) 1.38; 95% CI 1.02-1.89], increased cystatin C (OR 1.73 per SD; 95% CI 1.20-2.50), and increased albumin-to-creatinine ratio (OR 1.19 per SD; 95% CI 1.007-1.40). Sex, race, hypertension, myocardial infarction, estimated glomerular filtration rate, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, and the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory, statin, or antihypertensive medications were not associated with AKI.

Conclusions: Community-dwelling adults with a history of diabetes or increased cystatin C or albumin-to-creatinine ratio are at increased risk for AKI after hospitalization for a serious infection. These findings may be used to identify individuals at high risk for AKI.