Incidence of thromboembolism in children with primary nephrotic syndrome: a systematic review and metaanalysis

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the incidence of thromboembolism in children with primary nephrotic syndrome with Meta-analysis. METHODS: Relevant studies published from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2021 were retrieved from Pubmed, Web of science, Cochrane library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Science and Technology Journal Database(VIP) and Wangfang Database. Quality evaluation of the literatures included was conducted according to Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality(AHRQ) assessment tool, followed by data extraction and Meta-analysis with software RevMan 5.3. RESULTS: A total of seven studies involving 3675 subjects were included. The overall prevalence was 4.9% with 95% CI of 2.83 to 7.05.However, a significant heterogeneity (P < 0.001) was observed with I(2) = 89%. The prevalence of venous thromboembolism was 3.3% with 95% CI of 1.7 to 4.9. The prevalence of arterial thromboembolism was 0.5% with 95% CI of 0.2 to 1.4. CONCLUSION: Children with nephrotic syndrome are prone to thromboembolism, and it may lead to disability or death, therefore prevention measures is critical to decreasing the prevalence of thromboembolism. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12882-023-03160-y.