Pattern of acute glomerulonephritis in adult population in Dubai: A single-center experience

Epidemiological data of renal diseases have great geographic variability throughout the world. Due to the lack of a national renal data registry system, there is no information on the prevalence rate, clinical and pathological features of various glomerulonephritis (GN) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In a retrospective cross-sectional study, we analyzed 158 renal biopsies done in Dubai Hospital, UAE, between the years of 2005 and September 2014, with an aim to determine the prevalence rate and frequency of different pathological patterns of GN in adult patients who presented with proteinuria ± hematuria. In our study, primary GN still remains more common than secondary GN (66.4% vs. 33.5%). Among the primary GN in our analysis, minimal change disease was the most common primary GN affecting 20% of the study population (13.2% of the total GN causes) followed with membranous GN (18.2%), then membrano- proliferative GN (15.3%) and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (13.46%), while among the secondary causes lupus nephritis (LN) is the most prevalent GN in UAE, predominantly in the Emirati national population whom constituted 48% of total biopsies. Indeed, LN had the highest incidence among all types of GN even the primary ones, constituting 23.4% of total GN in Dubai (74% of the total secondary causes). Furthermore, systemic lupus erythematosus was the most common GN in women while the minimal change was widely affecting male patients. Among elderly, the most common pathology was diabetic glomerulosclerosis followed by amyloidosis.