Vitamin E Supplementation is Effective in Improving Clinical Symptoms and Reducing Renal Scarring in Children with Acute Pyelonephritis: A Retrospective Study

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is common in children. In particular, acute pyelonephritis (APN) may cause irreversible renal scarring (RS). This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the effects of vitamin E (VE) supplementation on children with APN. A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical records of children with APN who were admitted to our hospital from January 2022 to January 2024. The patients were divided into two groups according to treatment method: The conventional group (received conventional antibiotic treatment) and the VE group (received vitamin E supplement on the basis of antibiotic treatment). Symptom improvement time, laboratory indices and RS were compared between the two groups. This study enrolled 86 patients, including 41 in the VE group and 45 in the conventional group. Baseline characteristics were not significantly different between the two groups (p > 0.05). The improvement time of fever and other clinical symptoms in the VE group was shorter than that in the conventional group (p < 0.05). Before treatment, the levels of red blood cells, white blood cells, squamous epithelial cells, bacteria, interleukin-6, interleukin-8 and heparin-binding protein in urine were not significantly different between the two groups (p > 0.05). After treatment, these values in the VE group were lower than those in the conventional group (p < 0.05). After 6 months of follow-up, the incidence of RS in the VE group was significantly lower than that in the conventional group (p < 0.05). Further subgroup analyses showed that vitamin E reduced the incidence of RS in children of all ages and genders (p > 0.05). Vitamin E can effectively shorten the time to improvement of clinical symptoms and laboratory indicators in children with APN and reduce the incidence of RS.