Pediatric nephrology consultations in a tertiary academic center in Jordan

To determine the conditions that result in pediatric nephrology consultations in an academic hospital setting, we studied 178 prospective consecutive consultations for 125 inpatients (69 boys and 56 girls) at the Jordan University Hospital, Amman, Jordan from January 2006 to December 2006. The mean age at the time of consultation was 3.1 years (median of 1 year, and range from 1 day to 16 years). Of the 125 patients, 87 (69.6%) patients had a single consultation, while 38 (30.4%) patients had multiple encounters (range from 1-4 consultations). The reasons for consultations included fluids and electrolytes imbalances (29.0%), hydronephrosis (15.7%), urinary tract infections (14.2%), acute renal failure (ARF) (14.2%), hypertension (8.40%), and miscellaneous conditions (18.5%). The most frequent fluids and electrolyte disorders were polyuria, hypocalcemia, and hyponatremia. Routine administration of hypotonic intravenous fluids was a major contributory factor to hyponatremia. The most frequent cause of ARF was acute tubular necrosis in association with multiple organ dysfunction and antibiotic nephrotoxicity. Hypertension was mostly neurogenic in origin.