Characteristics of Acute Kidney Injury in Neonatal Age At - Intensive Care Unit

Abstract Introduction. Acute kidney injury is a serious condition which damages the kidney as a central mediator of the homeostasis of bodily fluids and electrolytes. It is not a rare problem in the intensive care units, particularly in the neonatal population. Perinatal asphyxia is a common predisposing factor associated with neonatal kidney injury. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of acute kidney injury in newborns from neonatal intensive care unit and to explore the association with perinatal asphyxia. Methods. The study was conducted at the Children’s University Hospital in Skopje, R. Macedonia. It was a clinical, prospective study. In the period of two years (January 2013 to December 2014) 29 patients hospitalized at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) with documented neonatal kidney injury were analyzed. Medical data records of admitted neonates with kidney injury were analyzed. The material was statistically analyzed using methods of descriptive statistics. Results. We evaluated 29 neonates with documented acute kidney injury who at the period of 2 years were treated in NICU. The prevalence of kidney injury was 6.4%. Most of involved neonates were born at term (66%). Prerenal injury was evaluated in 80% of cases. Perinatal asphyxia was the most common predisposing factors for kidney injury in our study, revealed in 56% of cases with predominance of term-infants and male gender. Sepsis was present in 44% of cases, prematurity in 34%, and congenital malformation in 27% of cases. Mortality rate was 27.5% and it was higher in patients with assisted ventilation and sepsis. Conclusion. Perinatal asphyxia is a dominant predisposing factor associated with neonatal kidney injury. Often, the occurrence of kidney damage in the neonatal population is multifactorial (more than 40%) and caused by several associated comorbidities