OBJECTIVE: To compare clinicopathological characteristics and short-term renal outcomes of IgA nephropathy (IgAN) patients with varying degrees of foot process effacement (FPE). METHODS: This multicenter retrospective study evaluated 1,001 biopsy-proven IgAN patients grouped by FPE severity (mild, moderate, severe). Regression models identified factors associated with different FPE degrees. Short-term outcomes in a 1-year follow-up subset were analyzed using overlap weighting, Cox regression, and Kaplan-Meier analysis. RESULTS: = 0.046). CONCLUSIONS: The degree of FPE in IgAN was significantly positively correlated with proteinuria, hypoalbuminemia, eGFR decline, mesangial hypercellularity, and tubular atrophy/interstitial fibrosis. Severe FPE is an independent risk factor influencing short-term renal outcomes in IgAN patients.
Wang et al. (Wed,) studied this question.