Epidemiology of end-stage renal failure in Burkina Faso

We identified 174 cases of chronic severe renal failure (blood creatinine > 650 μmol/l) and/or blood urea > 35 mmol/l) in a retrospective study of patients admitted to hospital between January 1989 and June 1996. Of these patients, 110 were men and 64 were women. The mean age was 36 ± 15 years. Fifty three patients had a history of hypertension before admission, 3 patients had diabetes and 3 had gout. The most frequent clinical signs were dyspnea (55.2% of all patients), fatigue (78.2%), vomiting (63.2%) and edema (66.1%). The prevalence of hypertension was 64.9%. Glomerulonephritis was found in 42.5% of patients, chronic interstitial nephritis in 16.1%, polycystic kidney disease in 2 cases, congenital renal hypoplasia in 4 cases and unclassified kidney disease in 14.4% of cases. End-stage renal failure was complicated by heart failure in 40.2% of patients, pericarditis in 31.6%, hemorrhage of the gastrointestinal tract in 15% and infections in 22.4%. 47.7% of the patients died following admission.