Abstract
Nephrotic syndrome (NS) is an important, but rare chronic disease in children, characterized by minimal change disease in the majority. NS is characterized by the clinical triad of proteinuria (protein/creatinine ratio > 200mg/mmol), hypoalbuminemia ( < 25g/L) and generalized oedema. Corticosteroids are the standard initial treatment for children with this disease, more than 90% respond to corticosteroid therapy. By studying children with nephrotic syndrome in Rikshospitalet and Ullevål University Hospital during 2000-2010 by retrospective reviewing medical records, our aim was to get an overview of what characterized children with minimal change disease (MC) admitted to these hospitals. We recorded the childrens age at debut, ethnicity, sex, preceding diseases, remission pattern, number of relapses and the complications they experienced. We also recorded the final diagnosis the children were discharged with , after being admitted with nephrotic syndrome. Of 180 medical records, we included 47 with the diagnose MC nephrotic syndrome. The children with MC had a median age of 4.3 years (range 0.9-13) and there was a predominance of male gender ( 70%) and asian ethnisity (40%). The majority went into remission (96%) and about 80% had one or more relapses. Our results correspond with previous findings from international studies
