Pattern of glomerulonephritis in the Kashmir valley

Glomerulonephritis (GN) is a common cause of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) that can affect patients at any age. With respect to ESKD, there are significant global variations in the percentage of the incident and prevalent patients secondary to GN. The present study was therefore conducted to know the pattern of GN in the Kashmir valley. Retrospective study was conducted in the tertiary center Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences of Kashmir valley which included cases of different types of GN diagnosed on histopathology over a period of three years. Basic demographic profile including age, sex, clinical presentation, relevant investigations, and the histopathological type of GN was noted for each patient. Histopathological examination due to various nonneoplastic renal diseases was done in 336 cases and out of these, glomerular diseases were diagnosed in 298 cases. Proteinuria and edema was the most common presentation. Primary GN was observed in 81% of cases and secondary GN in 16% of cases. IgA nephropathy was the most common primary GN 42% and nephropathy due to lupus was the most common secondary GN. The study concluded that primary GN is the most common primary renal disease with IgA as the most common primary GN and most presented as renal failure, highest until date recorded in India and lupus nephritis as the most common secondary GN which is similar to other studies from India and other regions of the world. This study may be useful to pathologists, nephrologists, and health care providers to formulate a basic platform for effective diagnostic, therapeutic, and research base for glomerular diseases so as to prevent its complications.