[Study on epidemiology and etiology of hospitalized patients with acute renal failure]

To investigate the change in epidemiology and etiology of hospitalized patients with acute renal failure (ARF) during the last years.The data of hospitalized patients with ARF in the Third Hospital of Peking University during the last 10 years were retrospectively analyzed. The changes in epidemiology and etiology and the relative factors were studied.Two hundred and eleven cases from January 1994 to March 2004 were diagnosed to have ARF during the last 10 years accounting for 0.12% hospitalized patients, with an increasing trend yearly. ARF occurred in patients of all ages with two peak in the 35-45 year and 60-80 years old. The ratio of male over female was about 3 : 2. Among 211 patients, only 33 (15.6%) had renal diseases previously while 178 (84.4%) had never. Eighty-four cases (39.8%)were hospital-acquired ARF which demonstrated a significant increase after 2000 (P0.05). One hundred and twenty-four (58.8%) were diagnosed in internal medicine with a declining trend while 87 (41.2%) were diagnosed in surgical department with a rising trend. Fifty-eight cases (27.5%) were found in intensive care unit (ICU) which demonstrated a increase by 1 89-fold after 2000.Infections, drugs and operations were the major causes for development of ARF with 61 cases (28.9%), 46 cases (21.8%) and 41 cases (19.4%) respectively. Forty-one cases (19.4%) were pre-renal, 156 cases(73.9%) were intrinsic with 72 cases (46.2%) confirmed to be ARF developed from pre-renal factors, and 14 cases (6.6%) were developed from post-renal factors. One hundred and thirty-four cases (85.9%) were acute tubulointerstitial lesions.During the last 10 years, there is an increasing trend in the incidence of ARF in hospitalized patients which might be attributed to hospital-acquired ARF due to drug, infection and operation.