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Background: There are not enough large epidemiologic population-based studies of biopsy-proven nephropathies with detailed clinicopathologic correlations., Methods: The Glomerulonephritis Registry of the Spanish Society of Nephrology has obtained data from 9378 cases with native biopsy-proven renal diseases and well-known clinical syndrome between 1994 and 2001, investigating clinicopathologic correlations. Patients were divided in three groups according to age: children (<15 years old), adults (15 to 65 years), and elderly (>65 years)., Results: The most common clinical syndrome at any age is nephrotic syndrome (35.5%), followed by asymptomatic urinary abnormalities (25.9%), acute renal failure (12.9%), chronic renal failure (12.1%), nephritic syndrome (4.5%), macroscopic haematuria (4.5%), and arterial hypertension (3.0%). A male predominance is observed at any age (3:2). The frequencies of histologic findings are statistically different in all syndromes according to age. Minimal change disease is the most frequent finding in children with nephrotic syndrome (39.5%), whereas in adults and elderly, membranous nephropathy is the most prevalent (24.2% and 28.0%, respectively). Ig A nephropathy (IgAN) is the most frequent glomerulonephritis in patients with asymptomatic urinary abnormalities at any age. Acute renal failure is an important cause for performing a kidney biopsy in elderly and vasculitis is the main histologic finding. The clinical manifestations of focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, non-IgA mesangial nephropathy, lupus nephritis, vasculitis, and nephroangiosclerosis are statistically different according to age., Conclusion: The findings of clinicopathologic correlations obtained from the Spanish Registry of Glomerulonephritis on native biopsy-proven renal diseases add valuable information to previous reports and it can be the initial step for follow-up and prospective studies.

Background: There are not enough large epidemiological population-based studies of biopsy-proven nephropathies with detailed clinical and histopathological data., Methods: The Glomerulonephritis Registry of the Spanish Society of Nephrology has obtained data from 7016 patients with biopsied renal diseases between 1994 and 1999, investigating prevalence, incidence and clinical and histopathological data. Biopsies of transplant kidneys have not been considered., Results: The observed biopsy rate for all ages is 4.8 per 100 000 inhabitants. A male predominance is seen for all age groups. The most common clinical syndrome at any age is nephrotic syndrome. The prevalence of hypertension is higher in adults and elderly patients. The most common pathologies are IgA nephropathy, focal glomerulosclerosis, membranous nephropathy and lupus nephritis. The mean annual incidence (per million of population) of the most common nephropathies is IgA nephropathy 7.9, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis 6.4, membranous nephropathy 6.2, lupus nephritis 5.6, minimal-change disease 4.8, nephroangiosclerosis 4.6, vasculitis 4.3, membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis 3.6 and amyloidosis 3.3. In children, the most frequent causes are minimal-change disease, IgA nephropathy and focal glomerulosclerosis. In adults, the most common diagnoses are IgA nephropathy, lupus nephritis, and focal glomerulosclerosis. In elderly patients, the most frequently reported pathologies are vasculitis, membranous nephropathy and amyloidosis. Membranous nephropathy has increased in incidence in recent years., Conclusions: We provide representative population-based descriptive data on native biopsy-proven renal diseases in Spain.