NSAID-Related Acute Kidney Injury in Children Characterized

Acute kidney injury (AKI) associated with use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) accounted for 2.7% of AKI cases found in a pediatric population, researchers reported online ahead of print in The Journal of Pediatrics.

In a retrospective review of 1,015 children who had been treated for AKI from any cause, pediatric nephrology fellow Jason M. Misurac, MD, of Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, and colleagues found that 21 patients had clinical, laboratory, and radiographic studies suggesting NSAID-associated acute tubular necrosis, and another six had findings suggesting NSAID-associated acute interstitial nephritis. When excluding complex patients with multifactorial AKI, 6.6% of the children had NSAID-associated AKI. A total of 15 of the 20 patients for whom dosing data were available were found to have received NSAIDs within recommended dosing limits.

The median age of children with NSAID-associated AKI was 14.7 years (range 0.5 to 17.7 years). Children younger than five years were more likely to require dialysis and intensive care unit admission.