European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Background: A common nephrotic syndrome finding is the presence of hyperlipidemia. Total cholesterol, LDL, VLDL, and low or normal HDL levels have all increased. Typically, hyperlipidemia is seen when the disease is active and goes away when the proteinuria goes away. However, it may recur and raise the risk of developing atherosclerosis in later life in recurrent cases. We in the current study tried to correlate the severity of nephrotic syndrome and dyslipidemia in pediatric cases presenting to our hospital.
Methods: A pre-validated proforma was used to record the information from the person. Following the parental agreement, clinical information was gathered and recorded in the proforma, including the patient's age, sex, presenting complaints, pharmacological history, and type of nephrotic syndrome (episode, recurrence, SDNS, SRNS, or remission). Blood samples for the patients' lipid profiles and serum albumin were taken after obtaining their medical histories and performing a clinical examination.
Results: The lipid profile of the cases of nephrotic syndrome in the study showed total cholesterol, LDL, VLDL, and Triglycerides were significantly higher in the cases as compared to controls all the values were (p = <0.05). In cases of first episode nephrotic syndrome after 6 weeks of steroid treatment, there was a significant reduction in the levels of lipids from the pre-treatment mean total cholesterol reduced to 213.0 ± 33.18 mg/dl. Similarly, the LDL-C levels were reduced to mean levels of 124.76 ± 22.60 mg/dl. The VLDL levels were reduced to 42.61 ± 5.27 mg/dl. The HDL levels were increased to 48.23 ± 3.02 mg/dl. The levels of triglycerides were reduced to 104.19 ± 31.8 mg/dl.
Conclusion: In pediatric nephrotic syndrome cases there is a significantly increased serum lipid profile. The lipid profile parameters were negatively correlated with serum albumin levels except HDL with weak positive correlation. After 6 weeks of steroid treatment in the first episode of nephrotic syndrome, there was a significant reduction in the mean levels of pre-treatment total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. In the relapse nephrotic syndrome cases at the end of steroid treatment, there was no significant reduction in the mean levels of total cholesterol, LDL-C, VLDL-C, and triglycerides.