ANALGESIC NEPHROPATHY STUDY A PROSPECTIVE

A prospective study was performed on patients admitted to the medicaland renal wards ofGeneral Hospital, Kuala Lumpur. Over a period of 14 months from 1 January 1982, 12 new cases of analgesic nephropathy (AN) were documented. Contrary to the experience in the West and in Australia, AN in Malaysia tends to have a male preponderance and occurs even in the younger age groups. The common analgesics abused are paracetamol, Chap Kaki Tiga and Chap Harimau. The main reasons for analgesic abuse are headache and arthritis. In addition to radiologicalfeatures of renal papillary necrosis patients have the othe