Health-related quality of life in Egyptian children with nephrotic syndrome

This research aimed to evaluate Quality of life (QoL) in Egyptian children with idiopathic Nephrotic syndrome (INS) in comparison to healthy children and children with chronic non-renal illnesses.

In this questionnaire-based study, 300 children were included, 100 with INS and 2 matched control groups: healthy group, and chronic non-renal illness group. QoL was assessed using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL™ 4.0 Generic Core Scales) and the Generic Children’s QoL Measure (GCQ).

All mean scores of PedsQL domains in INS group were significantly higher than chronic non-renal illness group and significantly lower than the healthy control group (p =  < 0.001) for all and similar results reported also regarding GCQ scores in INS compared to diseased (p = 0.02) and healthy controls (p = 0.006). Steroid-resistant NS group had lowest scores in all domains (p =  < 0.001) compared to other clinical phenotypes of NS group. The long duration of illness, higher number of relapses, high cumulative steroid dose, and high number of medications used were associated with lower PedsQL and GCQ scores (p < 0.001 for all)

This is the first study to asses QoL in Egyptian children with INS and correlates QoL scores to clinical phenotypes and complications of the disease. Egyptian children with INS need strenuous efforts from pediatricians and psychiatrists to improve QoL. Both PedsQL™ 4.0 scale and GCQ are simple, convenient, and can be used in daily clinical practice to asses QoL in children with NS.