Persistent Hematuria in Kids Portends ESRD

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is more likely to develop in adolescents and young adults with persistent microscopic hematuria, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association (2011;306:729-736).

Over nearly 22 years of follow-up, treated ESRD developed in 26 of 3,690 (0.70%) persons aged 16 through 25 years who had been diagnosed with persistent asymptomatic isolated microscopic hematuria at baseline compared with 539 of 1,199,936 patients (0.045%) without such a diagnosis. In adjusted analyses, ESRD was 18.5 times more likely to develop in subjects with hematuria.

The authors noted, however, that the incidence and absolute risk of ESRD remain quite low.