Nephrotic syndrome and diffuse mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis in children

The clinical course, response to therapy, and outcome were analyzed in 25 children with nephrotic syndrome associated with moderate to severe mesangial cell proliferation. The conditions of more than two thirds of the patients (16/23) failed to respond to prednisone therapy, and renal insufficiency or failure developed in 13. Our data suggest an association between response to therapy and degree of mesangial cell proliferation. Persistent nephrotic syndrome was associated with slow deterioration of renal function.