Management of nephrotic syndrome: ISKDC versus APN

Objective: to compare the frequency of relapses between iskdc and apn protocol in the treatment of nephrotic syndrome. study design: randomised control trial. etting: department of paediatrics,sandeman provincial hospital quetta,and balochistan. duration: one year. methodology: total 92 patients,46 patients in each group,were selected according to non probability purposive sampling including all nephrotic patients age 1 to 16 years keeping in mind the confounders,then allocating them into group 1 receiving iskdc and group 2 (apn) randomly and following them for a year. first relapse was the end point of study. results in group 1,4% of patients relapsed by first month,13% by three months,35% by six months,and 72 % by one year. in group 2 no patient relapsed by first month,2% by 3 months,15% by six months,and 30% by one year. the p value was 0.026. the longer duration of steroids was significant in reducing the risk of relapse at the end of study (relative risk 0.72) (95% ci 0.60-0.90). conclusion: apn is superior to iskdc in preventing relapses in nephrotic syndrome.