Incidence of pediatric glomerular diseases in Arab world: A systematic review

Despite the high number of Arab children, there are a scanty available data about different types of pediatric glomerular diseases in all Arab countries. Very few Arab countries have a national renal biopsy registry. In this review, we performed a systematic review analyzing the incidence of pediatric glomerular disease in all Arab countries. Relevant manuscripts in all 22 Arab countries found through searches of Medline, Science Direct, Embase and Google Scholar were evaluated. The period was from January 1990 to March 2018. A total of 17 manuscripts containing 3083 renal biopsies from seven countries were analyzed. Male-to-female ratio was 1.3:1. Saudi Arabia revealed the most published studies with seven papers. The average period of the study was 8.63 years. Retrospective studies represent 94.12%. Minimal change disease (MCD) (29.25%), focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS) (22.34%), mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis (14.78%), membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (6.9%), IgA nephropathy (3.98%), and membranous glomerulopathy (2.65%) were the top types of primary glomerular diseases. The most common types of secondary glomerular diseases were lupus nephritis (36.1%), postinfectious glomerulonephritis (17.62%), congenital nephrotic syndrome (6.08%), Alport syndrome (4.71%), Henoch-Schönlein purpura (1.49%), and amyloidosis (1.36%). In conclusion, MCD and lupus nephritis are, respectively, the most common types of primary and secondary glomerular diseases in children of all evaluated Arab countries. FSGS is the predominant pattern of primary glomerular diseases in Asian Arab countries. The trend of all types of glomerular diseases has not changed in the past 28 years except a noted significant reduction in FSGS. Arab countries are strongly recommended to establish a renal biopsy registry.