Treatment and clinical outcomes of acute glomerulonephritis among children admitted to the pediatric ward, Asella Teaching and Referral Hospital, Arsi, Ethiopia

Abstract Background Acute glomerulonephritis is an acute kidney injury syndrome characterized by the sudden onset of edema and new-onset or worsening hypertension. It is common in school-aged children and typically presents with hematuria, edema, oliguria and varying degrees of renal insufficiency. This problem is particularly important in developing countries. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the treatment and clinical outcomes of AG among children admitted to the pediatric ward in Asella Teaching and Referral Hospital, Ethiopia. Methods A retrospective cross-sectional study design was conducted at the Asella Teaching and Referral Hospital pediatrics ward from September 2017 to June 2021. A simple random sampling technique was applied to select 282 study participants. Modified questionnaires based on a previous study were used to collect the data and then entered into Epi-info version 7.2.1.0 and exported to SPSS version 23 for further analysis. Result A total of two hundred eighty-two records of children diagnosed with acute glomerulonephritis were included in this study. The age range of the participating patients was 2 to 14 years. More affected patients were male. The most affected age group was between 6 and 10 years (55.3%). The most common clinical manifestation was facial edema (100%), and leg edema was 90.1%. The complications were hyperkalemia (10.6%), heart failure (9.9%) and anemia (9.2%). A total of 131 (92.9%) patients improved and were discharged within two weeks (positive outcome). Conclusion The highly affected age group was between 6 and 10 years, and most of the patients were admitted with different complications. Timely and proper intervention is necessary, and long-term follow-up should be performed in every patient.