(Open access funding provided by Semmelweis University)
Subjects:
Clinical medicine
Systematic registration and examination of biopsy-related data in Central and Eastern
Europe are scarce, while the health condition of the population is worse compared
to other more developed countries. We aim to create a database and analyze the distribution
and temporal variation of the renal biopsy diagnoses in Hungary, including the effect
of the recent coronavirus pandemic. The diagnoses were standardized according to the
recommendation of the European Renal Association. Native biopsy samples processed
between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2020, were analyzed. During the 15 years,
2140 native kidney biopsies were performed. The number of samples increased from 24.5
to 57.9 per million person-years and the median age from 37 to 51 years (p < 0.0001).
The predominance of glomerular diseases was stable. The most frequent glomerulopathy
was IgA nephropathy (21.5%), followed by focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (17.7%),
and membranous nephropathy (15.7%). Trends showed the rise of ANCA-associated vasculitis.
During the coronavirus pandemic, there was a decrease in the number of kidney biopsies
and the proportion of membranous nephropathies. The diagnostic trends in our database
showed increasing biopsy rates among the elderly and the growing frequencies of age-related
diseases, which emphasizes the importance of altering medical focus according to demographic
changes in this area.
