Renal disease in the elderly: clinicopathologic analysis of renal disease in 115 elderly patients.

We reviewed the clinical and renal biopsy information of 115 patients who presented with renal disease after the age of sixty years. The major clinical presentations were renal insufficiency in 57 patients, nephrotic syndrome in 35 patients, and hematuria with variable amounts of proteinuria in 23 patients. Crescentic glomerulonephritis, diagnosed in 19 patients, was the most common cause of renal insufficiency. Membranous glomerulonephritis and minimal change nephrotic syndrome were noted in 15 and 9 patients, respectively. While patients with crescentic glomerulonephritis had an unfavorable outcome, patients with minimal change nephrotic syndrome and diffuse proliferative glomerulonephritis had a benign course. We conclude that even in the elderly, the natural history of renal disease is similar to that of younger patients, and the clinical course appears to depend on the nature of the underlying renal disease.