Native nephrectomy in advanced pediatric kidney disease: indications, timing, and surgical approaches.

In pediatric kidney failure, native kidneys may pose a risk to successful transplant outcomes. The indications and timing of native nephrectomy represent a controversial management decision. A lack of high-quality, outcomes-based data has prevented development of evidence-based guidelines for intervention. In this article, we review the published literature on medical indications for native nephrectomy and current knowledge gaps. In addition, we provide a surgical perspective regarding timing and approach.

Effects of Obesity and Hypertension on Pulse Wave Velocity in Children.

Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a biomarker of arterial stiffness. Findings from prior studies are conflicting regarding the impact of obesity on PWV in children. The authors measured carotid-femoral PWV in 159 children aged 4 to 18 years, of whom 95 were healthy, 25 were obese, 15 had hypertension (HTN), and 24 were both obese and hypertensive. Mean PWV increased with age but did not differ by race or sex. In adjusted analyses in children 10 years and older (n=102), PWV was significantly higher in children with hypertension (PWV±standard deviation, 4.9±0.7 m/s), obesity (5.0±0.9 m/s), and combined obesity-hypertension (5.2±0.6 m/s) vs healthy children (4.3±0.7 m/s) (each group, P<.001 vs control). In our study, obesity and HTN both significantly and independently increased PWV, while African American children did not have a higher PWV than Caucasian children.

Inverse correlation between Helicobacter pylori colonization and obesity in a cohort of inner city children.

BACKGROUND: Recently, publications in adults and children have documented a potential role of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in decreasing the likelihood of obesity. The present study compares the prevalence of H. pylori colonization between obese (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 95th percentile) and healthy weight (BMI ≥ 5th to <85th percentiles) children seen at an inner city medical center in the United States. METHODS: This retrospective study reviewed clinical features, BMI, and gastric histology of consecutive children aged 1-18 years undergoing an esophagogastroduodenoscopy. BMI percentile was calculated for age and gender. Helicobacter pylori colonization was determined by histopathologic identification of the organism. Multiple logistic regression was employed to measure the association between BMI and H. pylori colonization, controlling for baseline age, gender, and presenting symptoms. RESULTS: Among 340 patients (51.5% female, mean age of 10.5 ± 4.7 years), 98 (29%) were obese and 173 (51%) were healthy weight. The H. pylori colonization rate of the entire cohort was 18.5% (95% CI = 14.7-23.0%). Among obese children, 10% had H. pylori colonization compared to 21% of the healthy weight children (RR = 2.1, 95% CI = 1.1-4.0). Conversely, 39% of noncolonized children, but only 21% of the infected children, were obese (RR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.1-3.3). Multivariate analysis revealed that being colonized with H. pylori is associated with a 50% reduction in the odds of being obese (adjusted OR = 0.5, 95% CI = 0.2-1.0). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings in a North American cohort are in agreement with studies from Asia and Europe suggesting that H. pylori infection decreases the prevalence of obesity in children. Further work to characterize the extent and nature of this relationship is warranted.