Background and objectives: Early identification of frequently relapsing children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome is desirable.
Design, setting, participants, & measurements: The relapse status and clinical data of patients previously registered (January of 1993 to December of 2001) in a multicenter prospective study of the International Study of Kidney Disease in Children regimen were analyzed for risk of frequent relapsers over a 2-year follow-up period.
Results: Of 166 children with nephrotic syndrome (113 boys and 53 girls; median age=5.1 years), 145 (87.3%, median age=5.5 years) children were steroid-sensitive, and 21 (12.7%, median age=2.9 years) children were steroid-resistant. Of 145 children with steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome, 32 (22.1%, median age=4.2 years) children experienced frequent relapses over 2 years. The time to initial response was significantly longer (10 versus 7 days, P<0.001, log-rank test) in the 32 frequent relapsers than in the 106 nonfrequent relapsers. The time from start of initial treatment to first relapse was significantly shorter (2.6 versus 6.1 months, P<0.001, log-rank test) in the 32 frequent relapsers than in the 57 infrequent relapsers. In a Cox regression model, the time to initial response ≥9 days and the duration from start of initial treatment to first relapse <6 months were significant predictors of frequent relapses (unadjusted and adjusted).
Conclusions: Initial remission time ≥9 days and first relapse within 6 months were associated with frequent relapses. These findings may also be useful also in selecting potential frequent relapsers for clinical trials.