Association of Various Factors with Acute Kidney Injury in Children Presenting with Acute Gastroenteritis

Objective: To study the association of various factors with acute kidney injury in children presenting with acute gastroenteritis at our pediatrics department Study design: Comparative cross-sectional. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Pediatrics, Combined Military Hospital Bahawalpur. April 2021 to April 2022. Methodology: All the children under the age of 12 presenting with acute gastroenteritis diagnosed by consultant pediatrician were included in the study. They underwent all baseline investigations and assessed in detail by consultant pediatrician for presence of acute kidney injury (AKI). Factors like age, gender, duration of illness and level of dehydration were assessed with presence of AKI among the children included in the study. Results:  Out of 400 children presenting with acute gastroenteritis, 239(59.75%) were male while 161(40.25%) were female. Mean age of the children included in the study was 6.54±3.35 years. 317(79.25%) had no evidence of AKI while 83(20.75%) were diagnosed with AKI. 243(60.75%) had mild, 123(30.75%) had some while 34(8.5%) children had severe dehydration. Severity of dehydration had statistically significant association with presence of AKI in patients presenting with acute gastroenteritis (p-value<0.001). Conclusion: Acute kidney injury was not an uncommon finding in children present with acute gastroenteritis in our hospital. Patients with severe dehydration were more at risk of having AKI as compared to those with no or mild dehydration.