The current status of kidney transplantation in Nigerian children: still awaiting light at the end of the tunnel.

BACKGROUND: Kidney transplantation (KT) is the gold standard treatment for children with chronic kidney disease stage 5 (CKD5). It is easily accessible in well-resourced countries, but not in low/middle-income countries (LMICs). We present, a multicentre experience of paediatric KT of children domiciled in Nigeria. We aim to highlight the challenges and ethical dilemmas that children, their parents or guardians and health care staff face on a daily basis. METHODS: A multicentre survey of Nigerian children who received KTs within or outside Nigeria from 1986 to 2019 was undertaken using a questionnaire emailed to all paediatric and adult consultants who are responsible for the care of children with kidney diseases in Nigeria. Demographic data, causes of CKD5, sources of funding, donor organs and graft and patient outcome were analysed. Using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, we compared graft and patient survival. RESULTS: Twenty-two children, aged 4-18 years, received 23 KTs, of which 12 were performed in Nigeria. The male-to-female ratio was 3.4:1. Duration of pre-transplant haemodialysis was 4-48 months (median 7 months). Sixteen KTs were self-funded. State governments funded 3 philanthropists 4 KTs. Overall differences in graft and patient survival between the two groups, log rank test P = 0.68 and 0.40, respectively were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The transplant access rate for Nigerian children is dismal at < 0.2%. Poor funding is a major challenge. There is an urgent need for the federal government to fund health care and particularly KTs. Graphical Abstract.

Sickle cell disease clinical phenotypes in Nigeria: A preliminary analysis of the Sickle Pan Africa Research Consortium Nigeria database.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a monogenic disease with multiple phenotypic expressions. Previous studies describing SCD clinical phenotypes in Nigeria were localized, with limited data, hence the need to understand how SCD varies across Nigeria. METHOD: The Sickle Pan African Research Consortium (SPARCO) with a hub in Tanzania and collaborative sites in Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria, is establishing a single patient-consented electronic database with a target of 13,000 SCD patients. In collaboration with the Sickle Cell Support Society of Nigeria, 20 hospitals, with paediatric and adult SCD clinics, are participating in patient recruitment. Demographic and clinical information, collected with uniform case report forms, were entered into Excel spreadsheets and uploaded into Research Electronic Data Capture software by trained data clerks and frequency tables generated. RESULT: Data were available on 3622 patients enrolled in the database, comprising 1889 (52.9%) females and 1434 (39.6%) children ≤15 years. The frequencies of Hb SS, Hb SC and Hb Sß thalassemia in this data set were 97.5%, 2.5% and 0% respectively. Sixty percent, 23.8%, 5.9%, 4.8% and 2.5% have had bone pain crisis, dactylitis, acute chest syndrome, priapism and stroke respectively. The most frequent chronic complications were: leg ulcers (6.5%), avascular necrosis of bone (6.0%), renal (6.3%) and pulmonary hypertension (1.1%). Only 13.2% had been hospitalized while 67.5% had received blood transfusion. CONCLUSION: These data on the spectrum of clinical phenotypes of SCD are useful for planning, improving the management of SCD across Nigeria and provide a foundation for genomic research on SCD.