Childhood onset steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome continues into adulthood

Childhood steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome (SSNS) has previously been assumed to be a disease of childhood. This has been challenged by few studies reporting that some patients with childhood SSNS may continue to relapse into adulthood. The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term outcome of childhood SSNS presenting data from an unselected well-defined cohort of Danish patients.

We conducted a retrospective study of the clinical outcome from a population of patients consecutively admitted to the pediatric departments in the central and northern region of Denmark from 1998 to 2015. Patients were followed until August 2017. Data were collected from the patient's medical records.

Long-term outcome was studied in 39 adult patients with childhood onset SSNS. A total of 31% (12/39) had active disease in adulthood. Univariate analysis showed that more severe forms of SSNS (e.g., steroid dependent/frequent relapsing (SD/FR) nephrotic syndrome) in childhood were associated with active disease in adulthood. Comparing adult patients with SD/FR showed a significantly higher number of relapses/patient/year from late childhood and adolescence in the group with active disease vs. non-active disease (1.06 (95%CI: 0.32-1.81) vs. 0.19 (95%CI: 0.06-0.31, p = 0.005).

In general, one third of all patients with SSNS during childhood continue to have active disease during early adulthood, in particular patients with SD/FR continue to suffer from active disease. The present data illustrates that SSNS is not just a disease of childhood but persists in adulthood in a significant number of patients.