Purpura nephritis in Chinese children from northern Taiwan

From Jan. 1976 to Feb. 1989, 101 pediatric patients were diagnosed as Henoch-Schönlein purpura in Veterans General Hospital Taipei, 35 (35%) of whom were found to have purpura nephritis by both urinalysis and renal biopsy. All of them have been followed up for more than 4 months to 8 years. During this period, 7 (20%) of patients progressed to renal insufficiency or chronic renal failure, while 20 cases (57%) recovered from the renal disease completely, and the remaining 8 (23%) had urinary abnormalities till the last follow-up. The patients who had older onset age, who had acute nephritic syndrome, nephrotic syndrome as their initial renal manifestations or who had poor grading in renal pathology, had a relatively poor prognosis. Although most cases recovered completely from renal disease, a substantial minority of cases will have long-term renal morbidity. It is mandatory to combine clinical data, biopsy findings and close follow-up data in the management of pediatric purpura nephritis. The disease cannot be viewed as a benign disease in Chinese children.