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The role of immunosuppressive drugs in the treatment of IgA nephropathy (IgAN) remains controversial. The effect of treatment with prednisolone and azathioprine on the clinical course of patients with IgA nephropathy is described in this retrospective study. One hundred and fourteen patients, 66 treated (age 13-77 years) and 48 untreated (age 15-64 years), were evaluated. The two groups of patients differed significantly with respect to heavier proteinuria (median 3.6 g/day, range 0.2-18 g/day), lower serum albumin level ( 110 mumol/l), a non-progressive course was observed in 79.5% patients of the treated group (n = 39), while only in 36% of the untreated group (n = 22), the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Slopes of reciprocal of Scr versus time were also calculated by linear regression analysis to represent the trend of renal function for patients who had had 3 or more years follow-up (n = 101). An analysis of variance of these trends in patients with renal impairment at presentation (n = 51) showed significant recovery of renal function in the treated group (n = 33) and a decline of renal function in the untreated group (n = 18, P = 0.004). There was no significant effect of the treatment on proteinuria. The histopathological features that favoured response to the treatment were mesangial proliferation, capsular adhesions and interstitial infiltration on light-microscopy, C3 and fibrin deposits on immunofluorescence (P < 0.05).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Γούμενος et al. (Sat,) studied this question.