Epidemiology of acute renal failure in hospitalized patients: experience from southern Saudi Arabia

Despite advances in health care, morbidity and mortality associated with acute renal failure (ARF) remain high. This study determined the frequency and etiology of ARF in hospitalized patients in Saudi Arabia over 2 years. Of the 150 cases of ARF, 38.0% were community-acquired and 62.0% hospital-acquired. The main cause was acute tubular necrosis (ATN) in 93 patients, due to sepsis (24.7%), ischaemia (12.7%), rhabdomyolysis (mainly from road traffic accidents) (10.7%), drugs (7.3%) and malaria and snake-bites (4.6%). Overall, 40% died, 48% made a full recovery and 1 patient (0.7%) became dialysis-dependant. Factors associated with poor prognosis were: age 60+ years, community-acquired ARF, peak blood urea nitrogen > 160 mg/dL, duration of ARF > 1 week, need for dialysis and associated chronic liver disease.