Factors that Affect the Prognosis in Chronic Nephritis

Nephritis refers to inflammatory damage on glomerular cells. In recent years, as there is great progression on clinical research for the pathogenesis of Nephritis, the treatment effect is significantly improved and the prognosis is also improved. According to researches, the following are factors that are closely linked to the prognosis of Nephritis.

Factors that affect the prognosis of Nephritis mainly include the following four aspects:

Clinical manifestation. Those manifested as simple proteinuria or microscopic hematuria without other accompanying symptoms tend to have a better prognosis than others. High blood pressure can worsen damage on the kidneys. Uncontrolled or poorly treated hypertension can deteriorate injury on functioning renal intrinsic cells. Controlling blood pressure within normal range will help to improve the patients’ prognosis.

In addition, the prognosis is closely associated with the primary inducing cause of kidney damage. Nephritis induced by amigdalitis and other upper respiratory tract infections will have a better prognosis; kidney diseases that are secondary to a systemic illness such as Diabetes, high blood pressure, SLE, etc, will predict a poorer prognosis, especially because the primary disease is hard to be eliminated and the renal fibrosis can not be blocked.

The pathological type of Nephritis also affect prognosis. For instance, Minimal Change Disease can be cured by timely treatment; while the prognosis in Membranous Proliferative Nephropathy patients is far less positive. Presence of cresents in renal capsules or focal segmental glomerular sclerosis indicates worsened kidney damage and thus a poorer prognosis.

Kidney function condition. In early course of Nephritis, kidney function is normal or moderately impaired, by timely treatment the kidney damage can be reversed. In an advanced stage, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is obviously decreased and serum creatinine as well as blood urea nitrogen rises, the patients need active treatment to control the progression and protect their kidneys so as to stop progressing into end-stage renal disease. Once the patients develop Uremia or kidney failure, then dialysis or kidney transplant are the only methods the patients can turn to and many severe complications threaten life. Hence early treatment is always a crucial part to improve the prognosis.