Causes of chronic renal failure in children in a single hospital in jordan: a 10 years retrospective study.

Case records of patients aged 13 years or below with chronic renal failure (CRF), seen during the last 10 years at the King Hussein Medical Center, Amman, Jordan were reviewed. There were 46 patients with CRF, (25 males and 21 females), aged 1/2 to 13 years. Chronic pyelonephritis was the major cause of CRF seen in 23 cases (50%), followed by glomerulonephritis in eight (17.4%), congenital hypodysplasia in six (13%), hereditary nephritis in five (10.9%) and unknown etiology in four (8.7%). Of the study patients, 17.3% were below the age of five years at first presentation. Twenty one patients progressed to end-stage renal disease and among them chronic glomerulonephritis was the most common primary renal disease. The higher incidence of chronic pyelonephritis causing CRF in our series in comparison to 23.9% incidence reported in the developed countries shows that our infants and young children probably are not investigated early enough nor do they receive adequate treatment at the time of their first urinary tract infection. Prevention of renal failure, availability of replacement therapy, and extension of treatment opportunities to more children are the main problems concerning CRF in children in our country.