Steroid Dependent and Independent Ocular Findings in Iranian Children with Nephrotic Syndrome

Objectives: the aim of this study was to determine steroid de- pendent and independent ocular abnormalities in children with nephrotic syndrome (ns). due to the relapsing nature of ns prolonged usage of corticosteroid puts the patients at the risk of ocular side effects of prednisolone. since published data evaluat- ing both steroid dependent and independent ophthalmic findings in children with ns is scarce, we evaluated ophthalmic findings in this group of patients according to the response to steroid. methods: the study population consisted of 35 patients with steroid-sensitive ns (ssns) and 40 patients with steroid-resistant ns (srns). the patients who aged 2-18 years underwent oph- thalmologic examination for steroid dependent and independent ocular abnormalities. results: the median age of patients was 7.2 years (ranged 1.2-19 years). forty-seven subjects were men and 28 were women. pa- tients with srns had significantly higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure than patients with ssns (p < 0.05). forty-five out of 75 patients (60%) had either steroid dependent or inde- pendent ophthalmic symptoms. twenty percent of the patients had steroid dependent and 29% had steroid independent ocular abnormalities. posterior subcapsular cataract and myopic astig- matism were the most common steroid dependent and independ- ent ophthalmologic symptoms, respectively conclusions: steroid independent eye involvements are not un- common in ns children and should be considered especially in srns.