Cause and prognosis of acute renal failure in Kuwait: a 2-year prospective study

At the Mubarak Al-Kabeer University Hospital of Kuwait (Arabian Gulf), 77 episodes of acute renal failure were collected prospectively over 2 years, yielding a mean annual incidence rate of 9.5/100,000 population. Forty-four episodes occurred in hospital, a rate of 1.3 per 1000 admissions. In this group, acute tubular necrosis was the commonest cause (27 episodes). Thirty-three episodes occurred in the community, acute tubular necrosis accounting for 11 episodes. In contrast to hospital-acquired renal failure there was a tendency for increased incidence of community-acquired renal failure in the summer months. A more striking observation was the lower mortality in the community-acquired form. The mortality was not related to severity of renal failure even within the group with acute tubular necrosis.