IgA nephropathy in a tertiary care center from south India

IgA nephropathy is being recognized as the commonest glomerular disease worldwide. The prevalence and clinical picture varies from region to region. A retrospective analysis of 400 native renal biopsies performed over a period of 3 years at our center was done to know the prevalence and clinicopathological profile of patients with IgA nephropathy. All the biopsies were processed for both light microscopy and immunofluorescence studies. Patients with predominant IgA deposits were labeled as IgA nephropathy and further classified histopathologically into five subclasses according to the Haas classification. We noted a prevalence of 7.8% (31 cases) of IgA nephropathy. Nephrotic syndrome and chronic renal failure were the most common mode of presentation. Majority of cases fell into subclass III (focal segmental glomerular sclerosis) with 35.5% followed by subclasses IV (diffuse proliferative glomerular sclerosis) and V (global sclerosis) with 25.8% and 22.6% prevalence, respectively. As about 50% cases presented with varying degree of renal insufficiency, many ending with ESRD, IgA nephropathy can be considered as a serious problem in India.