Increased Incidence and Severity of Acute Poststreptococcal Glomerulonephritis in the Czech Paediatric Population Following the COVID ‐19 Pandemic

Aim This study aimed to investigate the incidence and severity of acute poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis (APSGN) in the Czech paediatric population before, during and after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. Methods The data were collected from 15 centres. The patients were divided into three periods: 2016–2019 (pre‐COVID), 2020–2021 (COVID) and 2022–2023 (post‐COVID). The incidence of APSGN during the studied period was assessed. The clinical and laboratory parameters were compared between the pre‐COVID and post‐COVID periods. Results Of the 117 patients with possible APSGN, 95 met the inclusion criteria. There were 67 (70.5%) males. The incidence of APSGN was significantly higher during the post‐COVID period (32/year) than during the pre‐COVID (6/year) and COVID (3.5/year) periods ( p < 0.0001). The highest number of cases occurred in 2023 ( n = 55). During the post‐COVID period there was more frequent use ( p = 0.0448) and duration ( p = 0.0131) of furosemide; more frequent antihypertensive treatment ( p = 0.0104); and a higher prevalence of acute kidney injury ( p = 0.0145), hypertension ( p = 0.0178), and hypertension stage 2 ( p = 0.0372) compared to the pre‐COVID period. Kidney replacement therapy and crescentic glomerulonephritis were found only during the post‐COVID period. Conclusion We found a significantly higher incidence of APSGN and its associated complications during the post‐COVID period.