Ankle Brachial Index in Children with Steroid-Resistant Nephrotic Syndrome

Objectives: this study aimed to assess the ankle brachial index (abi) as a predictor of peripheral arterial diseases (pad) in children with steroid-resistant nephrotic syndrome (ns). methods: twenty children (11 males and 9 females) attending the pediatric nephrology outpatient clinic of el-minia university hospital, egypt, were enrolled in this study. their age ranged between 5 and 15 years with a mean of 10.75 ± 3.31 years. they had proteinuria and were dependent on steroid therapy. twenty healthy age- and sex-matched children served as a control group. all patients and controls underwent a thorough history-taking and clinical examination. all subjects in the study underwent laboratory investigations, including a urine analysis (24-hour test for protein in urine, and levels of serum urea and creatinine, triglycerides, and cholesterol). a renal biopsy was done to diagnose the children’s histopathological type of ns. a doppler study was done to determine patients’ abi. results: abi was significantly higher in the patient group than in the control group (p <0.0001). there was a negative correlation between abi and duration of treatment (r value = 0.77 and p <0.001). conclusion: abi is simple non-invasive manoeuvre that can reliably assess arterial stiffness as an early predictor of atherosclerosis in nephrotic patients with long duration of both illness and steroid therapy.