End stage renal disease in French Guiana (data from R.E.I.N registry): South American or French?

BACKGROUND: End-Stage renal disease (ESRD) causes considerable morbidity and mortality, and significantly alters patients' quality of life. There are very few published data on this problem in the French Overseas territories. The development of a registry on end stage renal disease in French Guiana in 2011 allowed to describe the magnitude of this problem in the region for the first time. METHODS: Using data from the French Renal Epidemiology and Information Network registry (R.E.I.N). Descriptive statistics on quantitative and qualitative variables in the registry were performed on prevalent cases and incident cases in 2011, 2012 and 2013. RESULTS: French Guiana has one of the highest ESRD prevalence and incidence in France. The two main causes of ESRD were hypertensive and diabetic nephropathies. The French Guianese population had a different demographic profile (younger, more women, more migrants) than in mainland France. Most patients had at least one comorbidity, predominantly (95.3%) hypertension. In French Guiana dialysis was initiated in emergency for 71.3% of patients versus 33% in France (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: These first results give important public health information: i) End stage renal disease has a very high prevalence relative to mainland France ii) Patients have a different demographic profile and enter care late in the course of their renal disease. These data are closer to what is observed in the Caribbean or in Latin America than in Mainland France.

What Is the Part of Tropical Diseases Among Infectious Complications in Renal Transplant Recipients in the Amazon? A 12-Year Multicenter Retrospective Analysis in French Guiana.

BACKGROUND: Infectious complications in kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) are well studied in temperate countries but remain barely known in tropical ones. The main objective of this study was to describe infection-related hospitalizations in patients living in the Amazon, where it has never been described. METHODS: All KTRs residing in French Guiana between 2007 and 2018 were included retrospectively. Infection-related hospitalizations were collected in the main medical centers of the territory. RESULTS: Eighty-two patients were included, and 42 were infected during the study period (51%). Eighty-seven infections were identified. The main sites of infection were urinary, in 29% of cases (25/87), and pulmonary, in 22% of cases (19/87). When documented (48/87), bacterial infections were predominant (35/48), followed by viral (8/48), fungal (4/48), and parasitic infections (1/48). Endemic so-called tropical infections accounted for 6% of infections (5/87). Histoplasma capsulatum was the most commonly isolated fungus (2/4). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the spectrum of infections in KTRs in French Guiana differs little from that of temperate countries. Nevertheless, some tropical infections are described. More studies on fungal infections in KTRs should be undertaken to clarify the weight of histoplasmosis in these patients.