A Regional Evaluation of Survival of Infants with End-Stage Renal Disease.

BACKGROUND: Information regarding morbidity and mortality of infants born with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) requiring dialysis early in life is critical to optimize patient care and better counsel families.

OBJECTIVE: We evaluated outcomes of infants born regionally with ESRD, and those within our broader catchment area referred for dialysis.

STUDY DESIGN: We screened deaths at 5 regional referral hospitals, identifying infants with ESRD who did not survive to transfer for dialysis. We also screened all infants <8 weeks old seen at our institution over a 7-year period with ESRD referred for dialysis. We evaluated factors associated with survival to dialysis and transplant.

RESULTS: We identified 14 infants from regional hospitals who died prior to transfer and 12 infants at our institution who were dialyzed. Because of the large burden of lethal comorbidities in our regional referral centers, overall survival was low, with 73% dying at birth hospitals. Amongst dialyzed infants, 42% survived to transplant.

CONCLUSION: This study is unusual in reporting survival of infants with ESRD including those not referred for dialysis, which yields an expectedly lower survival rate than reported by dialysis registries.