Predictive Value of Laboratory Indexes on Renal Involvement in Children with Henoch-Schönlein Purpura

OBJECTIVE: Henoch–Schönlein purpura (HSP) is the most common vasculitis in children. Renal involvement is the main long-term complication of HSP, and presently there is no way to predict which children may have irreversible renal damage from the outset. This study aimed to explore the prediction value of laboratory indexes on renal involvement in children with HSP, which could help the early identification and intervention. METHODS: Children with HSP hospitalized at the First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine from June 2019 to December 2020 were included. The demographic findings, clinical features, laboratory findings including blood routine examination, serum immunoglobulin, complement, T cell subsets levels, liver and kidney function, coagulation function were recorded. Laboratory indexes were analyzed, logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the independent predictors in HSP patients with renal involvement, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were further used to assess the value of prediction indexes, as well as the efficacy of combined diagnosis. RESULTS: The study included 146 HSP patients, among them, 50 patients (34.2%) had renal involvement. Age, platelet distribution width (PDW), CD3(+) and fibrinogen (FIB) were positively correlated with renal involvement, while the levels of Immunoglobulin G (IgG), C-reactive protein (CRP), and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were negatively correlated with renal involvement. The area under the ROC Curve (AUC) of these biomarkers ranged from 0.6284 to 0.7009, and among the combinations, a combination of NLR, CRP, CD3(+), FIB, PDW, IgG and age had the best AUC value (0.9774). CONCLUSION: Age, PDW, CD3(+), FIB, CRP, NLR and IgG were prediction indexes for renal involvement in HSP patients, and these indexes can be combined appropriately to improve the diagnostic efficacy.