Clinical Characteristics of Children With Acute Tubulointerstitial Nephritis: A Single-Center Experience

Acute tubulointerstitial nephritis (ATIN) is an infiltration of the kidney interstitium with inflammatory cells. Medications are most frequently blamed for the etiology. Patients may present with non-specific signs and symptoms. Therefore, the diagnosis of ATIN is often delayed. In this study, clinical characteristics, treatment protocols, and outcomes of children diagnosed with ATIN were presented.

This is a retrospective study based on the data of 18 patients diagnosed with ATIN between 2017 and 2022 at Gazi University. Patients were divided into two groups: steroid-treated (n=13) and non-steroid-treated (n=5). Clinical features and laboratory evaluations were compared between the groups.

The mean age of the patients was 14.4±2.6 years, and the great majority were girls (88.9%, n=16). ATIN was mostly medication-related (n=17, 94.4%). Steroids were started in one-third of patients using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Steroids were started in 45.4% of the patients with eosinophilia, 75% of those with pyuria, 66.6% of those with hematuria, and half of the patients with increased kidney echogenicity. The kidney functions returned to normal ranges in all patients. In steroid-treated patients, although recovery times for serum creatinine were longer (7.2±2.5 vs. 71.2±100.7 days), blood eosinophil count reached normal values more rapidly (5.4±2.3 vs. 3.1±1.0 days).

ATIN can be associated with diverse clinical presentations. The first and most important step of treatment is to discontinue the medication responsible for the etiology. Steroid treatment improves eosinophilia more rapidly. However, randomized controlled studies are needed to determine further treatment steps and establish a more definite treatment protocol.