In brief

Pediatrics

Dyslipidemia in children with chronic kidney disease Saland, J. M. et al. Kidney Int. doi:10.1038/ki.2010.311

Dyslipidemia is common in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and is associated with reduced glomerular filtration rate (GFR), nephrotic proteinuria, age, and obesity, according to new research. Saland and colleagues examined the prevalence and pattern of dyslipidemia (a known risk factor for atherosclerosis) in 391 children (aged 1–16 years) with CKD. Nearly half of the children in the study had dyslipidemia, 79 of whom had combined dyslipidemia. Analysis of baseline lipid levels found a high prevalence of hypertriglyceridemia, increased non-HDL-cholesterol levels and reduced HDL-cholesterol levels. Furthermore, children with a GFR of <30 ml/min/1.73 m² were more likely to have dyslipidemia than those with a GFR >50 ml/min/1.73 m².

Glomerular disease

HLA has strongest association with IgA nephropathy in genome-wide analysis Feehally, J. et al. J. Am. Soc. Nephrol. 21, 1791–1797 (2010)

Studies suggest that the pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy has a genetic component, but existing data on candidate genes are inconclusive. Feehally et al. genotyped patients with IgA nephropathy, family-based controls and case controls (all of European ancestry) for 318,127 single nucleotide polymorphisms. A strong association between IgA nephropathy and the MHC region of chromosome 6p, but not other loci, was observed. Further analysis revealed that the strongest association signal was with the HLA–DQ locus. The investigators conclude that susceptibility alleles in the HLA region predispose European individuals to IgA nephropathy.

Risk factors

Alcohol consumption and kidney function decline in the elderly Menon, V. et al. Nephrol. DIal. Transplant. 25, 3301–3307 (2010)

Investigators who conducted a prospective cohort study have concluded that moderate alcohol consumption has neither adverse nor beneficial effects on kidney function in elderly individuals. Menon et al. analyzed kidney function and weekly alcohol consumption in 4,343 invididuals aged ≥65 years from four US communities. Half of the study participants reported current alcohol consumption and one-quarter of participants had rapid kidney function decline during the average 5.6 years of follow-up. No association was observed between kidney function decline and alcohol use, irrespective of the number of alcoholic drinks consumed each week. The authors conclude that alcohol consumption does not seem to protect against kidney disease.