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The elderly population is growing faster than the total population worldwide. Kidney diseases are different in older patients compared to young adults; secondary kidney diseases are more common in the elderly due to multiple comorbidities. Glomerulopathies account for up to 25% of kidney disease cases in the elderly.
To determine the frequency of glomerular diseases in renal biopsies of patients aged ≥60 years. Biopsy reports and clinical records of patients who underwent renal biopsy between January 1977 and December 2022 were reviewed. Patients aged ≥60 years were identified and clinical, laboratory and histological data were collected. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics.
9044 kidney biopsies performed between 1977 and 2022 were reviewed. Among them, 5852 (64.7%) were native kidneys. In patients ³60 years old were performed 296 kidney biopsies (3.3·%). The median age was 66 years (60-84 years), with a predominance of the male gender (53.7%). The most common indication for biopsy was nephrotic syndrome (65.9%), followed by rapidly progressive syndrome (7.5%). The most frequent histological diagnosis was focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (23.6%) followed by membranous glomerulopathy (17.2%), and thirdly lupus nephritis and diabetic nephropathy (6.8%). The most common cause of nephrotic syndrome was focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (34.3%) followed by membranous glomerulopathy (27.1%) and diabetic nephropathy (9.0%). The most common cause of nephritic syndrome was lupus nephritis (35.7%). Proliferative endocapillary and extracapillary glomerulonephritis (21.1%) was the most common cause of rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis.
The most common glomerular diseases in patients aged ≥60 years were focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, followed by membranous glomerulopathy, lupus nephritis and diabetic nephropathy.