[Epidemiology of nephrotic syndrome]

Causes of nephrotic syndrome are varied with age, the times, geographical location and race. In children, minimal change nephrotic syndrome (MCNS) is common; however, membranous nephropathy (MN) is most frequent in adult. Incidence of membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) is decreased in advanced nations, although it remains a common in developing countries. In advanced nations, incidence of focal and segmental glomerular sclerosis (FGS) is increased, particularly in black populations. In Japan, MCNS was most frequent (37.7%), and then, MN was 23.3%, FGS was 7.2% and MPGN was 8.3% by a former research (in 1985). The recent research (in 1994) showed that MCNS was 41.5%, and next MN was 24.7%. FGS was increased to 11.8% and MPGN was decreased to 4.9%.