First Consultation in Nephrology: Case of the Point G University Hospital (Bamako-Mali)

Understanding the first consultation of people with kidney disease seems to us to be essential to understand the attitude of the referring physician and the nephrologist. The aim was to find out to whom a patient with kidney disease should be referred in the first instance and for what reason? Hence the evaluation of the prevalence of the first consultation in the nephrology department of the Point G University Hospital in Bamako was made. Patients and Method: This was a prospective descriptive study which took place from July 2017 to June 2018 in the nephrology department of the Point G University Hospital. The study included all patients who came to the nephrology department for the first time during this period. Results: Between July 2017 and June 2018 at the nephrology and haemodialysis service of the G point University Hospital, we retained 643 out of 1031 patients who came for their first consultation, i.e. 62.36%. There were many patients aged between 41 and 50 years. The average age was 42.6 ± 5.03 years with extremes of 30 and 82 years. The sex ratio (M/F) was in favor of males, 1.14. The majority of patients were referred/evacuated from the referral health centres (57.6%). The majority of patients were referred/evacuated by general practitioners (70.5%). Cardiologists were the main specialists to refer/evacuate patients (21.2%). The main reasons for consultation that led to the first diagnostic hypotheses were: arterial hypertension for vascular nephropathy, glomerular syndrome for glomerular nephropathy, acute uraemia syndrome for acute renal failure, hydronephrosis for obstructive uropathy and finally diabetes for diabetic nephropathy. Conclusion: The first consultation in nephrology remains an important step in the management of renal disease, especially when the referral is an emergency. The percentage of referrals is dominated by general practitioners.

Estimation of Glomerular Filtration Rate: Which Formula to Apply in G-Spot Subjects Aged 1 - 17 Years?

Introduction: Morbidity and mortality in paediatric practice is dominated in Africa by malaria, diarrhoeal diseases and acute respiratory infections. Aim: In order to evaluate the Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) with the formulas commonly used by medical laboratories, we proposed to undertake this study. Patients and Method: This was a descriptive, prospective and cross-sectional study conducted at the PA and KA medical biology laboratory in Bamako Hamdalaye ACI 2000 in collaboration with the medical biology and hospital hygiene laboratory service at the Point G University Hospital. Results: During the study period, we recruited 360 subjects, 189 of whom were male (52.5%) and 171 female (47.5%). The mean age was 8.75 ± 4.8 years with extremes of 1 and 17 years. Subjects aged 15 to 17 years were the most numerous. The reference means GFR of the subjects according to age was with the SCHWARTZ formula 179.16 ± 50.47 with extremes of 173.93 and 184.39;with CKD-Epi 37.63 ± 11.25 with extremes of 36.46 and 38.79;with MAYO 107.87 ± 18.11 with extremes of 105.99 and 109.75 and MDRD 350.83 ± 251.15 with extremes of 324.79 and 376.86. Conclusion: The Mayo formula showed a better distribution around the mean than other formulas for estimating the glomerular filtration rate.