Clinical and pathological analysis of 217 patients with IgA nephropathy from Hainan Province

Objective To study the clinical manifestation, pathological features and their correlation in patients with IgA nephropathy from Hainan Province. Methods The clinical and pathological data of 217 patients with IgA nephropathy diagnosed by renal biopsy were retrospectively analyzed. Results The incidence of IgA nephropathy was the highest in patients at the age of 30-39 years (50.38%). Clinically, IgA nephropathy of hematuria + albuminuria type was the most common among the patients (56.68%, 123/217) and associated with severe pathological changes, with 38.21% of the cases having pathological changes above grade III. The pathological types of IgA nephropathy included almost all the pathological types of primary glomerular disease, and type I was the most common (31.34%, 68/217) followed by type II. The progression of the pathological changes was associated with increased rate of hypertension. Immunopathological classification identified 48 (22.12%) simple IgA cases and 106 cases with complement deposition (48.85%). Conclusion IgA nephropathy has diverse clinical manifestations, and the presence of concurrent hypertension often indicates severe pathological changes of the kidneys. For asymptomatic patients with hematuria in the presence or absence of albuminuria, early renal biopsy should be performed and appropriate therapy administered according to the pathological types.