Hoste Eric A J, Kellum John A
Intensive Care Unit, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium.
Contrib Nephrol. 2007;156:32-8. doi: 10.1159/000102013.
Traditionally the epidemiology of acute renal failure was assessed in patients requiring renal replacement therapy. Recent data emphasized the importance of less severe impairment of kidney function, hence the terminology acute kidney injury (AKI) was introduced.
In this paper we present a review of current published data on the epidemiology of AKI.
The RIFLE classification categorizes the whole severity range of AKI into 3 severity categories and 2 outcome classes. AKI is associated with increased costs and worse outcomes. Increasing severity classes are associated with increasing morbidity and mortality. There is an increasing incidence of AKI, while mortality seems to decrease.
Small changes in kidney function have an impact on outcomes and this knowledge has led to the introduction of the terminology AKI, encompassing both discrete and severe impairment of kidney function. The RIFLE classification describes the whole range of AKI and has been validated in multiple cohorts. As a consequence of increasing comorbidity, the incidence of AKI is increasing. The incidence of acute renal failure requiring renal replacement therapy even compares to that of acute lung injury, and up to two thirds of general ICU patients meet RIFLE criteria for AKI.
传统上，急性肾衰竭的流行病学是在需要肾脏替代治疗的患者中进行评估的。近期数据强调了肾功能较轻损害的重要性，因此引入了急性肾损伤（AKI）这一术语。
在本文中，我们对当前已发表的关于AKI流行病学的数据进行综述。
RIFLE分类将AKI的整个严重程度范围分为3个严重程度类别和2个预后类别。AKI与成本增加和预后较差相关。严重程度类别增加与发病率和死亡率增加相关。AKI的发病率在上升，而死亡率似乎在下降。
肾功能的微小变化会对预后产生影响，这一认识促使引入了AKI这一术语，它涵盖了肾功能的离散性和严重性损害。RIFLE分类描述了AKI的整个范围，并已在多个队列中得到验证。由于合并症增加，AKI的发病率正在上升。需要肾脏替代治疗的急性肾衰竭的发病率甚至与急性肺损伤相当，多达三分之二的普通重症监护病房患者符合AKI的RIFLE标准。
