Evaluation of Renal Function Profile in Human Visceral Leishmaniasis (Kala-Azar) Patients: A Case of Western Tigray, Ethiopia

Kibrom Gerezgiher Asfaw; Solomon Tebeje Gizaw; Natesan Gnanasekaran

doi:10.2147/RRTM.S410137

Evaluation of Renal Function Profile in Human Visceral Leishmaniasis (Kala-Azar) Patients: A Case of Western Tigray, Ethiopia

Res Rep Trop Med. 2023 Jun 28:14:21-33. doi: 10.2147/RRTM.S410137. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Kibrom Gerezgiher Asfaw¹, Solomon Tebeje Gizaw¹, Natesan Gnanasekaran^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Biochemistry, School of Medicine, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
² Regan Institute of Metabolic Therapy, Rasipuram Tk, Namakkal Dt, Tamilnadu, India.

Abstract

Background: Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne protozoan infection that has a wide clinical spectrum in the tropics and subtropics. Kidney damage is frequently associated with increased morbidity and mortality in visceral leishmaniasis (VL) patients. However, up to date, there is a very limited report on the effect of visceral leishmaniasis on kidney function profiling in Ethiopia.

Objective: To evaluate the renal function profile in human visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) patients.

Materials and methods: Human blood was taken from VL patients (n = 100) and healthy controls (n = 100) attending Kahsay Abera and Mearg Hospitals, Western Tigray of Ethiopia. Serum was separated according to the conventional protocol and kidney function profiling (creatinine, urea, and uric acid) was analyzed by Mindray 200E automated chemistry analyzer. The estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was also assessed in this study. The obtained data were processed using SPSS Version 23.0. Descriptive statistics, independent-test, and bivariate correlations were used for data analysis. P values <0.05 were considered statistically significant at a 95% confidence level.

Results: The mean serum creatinine level was found significantly higher, while respective serum urea and eGFR were significantly lower in VL patients compared to healthy controls. Specifically, from 100 VL cases, an increased level of serum creatinine, urea, and uric acid was found in 10%, 9% and 15% VL cases, respectively; meanwhile, a decreased serum urea and eGFR have been reported from 33% to 44% VL cases, respectively.

Conclusion: The finding of this study asserted that visceral leishmaniasis causes derangement in kidney activities characterized by alteration of renal function profile. This may indicate that VL is the determinant factor for developing kidney dysfunction. This study encourages researchers to engage in visceral leishmaniasis and its effect on other organ function profiles in humans and identify potential markers for both prevention and intervention.

Keywords: creatinine; glomerular filtration rate; renal function test; urea; visceral leishmaniasis.

Grants and funding

This research project is partly funded by Addis Ababa University. The funding organization has no role in data collection, data analysis, data interpretation and manuscript writing.