Renal biopsy findings in the kingdom of bahrain: a 13-year retrospective study

Glomerular diseases continue to be the leading cause of end-stage renal disease globally. Hence, it is important to recognize the pattern of these diseases in any given geographical area. A total of 498 renal biopsies performed on patients with proteinuria, hematuria and mild to moderate renal impairment during a period of 13 years (between January 1990 and December 2002) at the Salmaniya Medical Complex (a tertiary care hospital of the Kingdom of Bahrain), were reviewed and categorized. Primary glomerular disease accounted for two-third of the glomerular diseases, which in turn constituted 44.8% of all renal biopsies. The most common histological lesion was minimal change disease (30%). Focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis was the second most common lesion (23.8%) followed by membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (14.3%). Secondary glomerular disease comprised 33.6% of glomerular diseases (22.7% of all the renal biopsies) with lupus nephritis forming the commonest lesion (38.9%) followed by diabetic nephropathy (31.9%) and hypertension (20.4%). Tubulointerstitial diseases accounted for 13.1% of all renal biopsies whereas transplant diseases were noted in 12.2%. The miscellaneous group including inadequate biopsies constituted 7.2% of all the biopsies. The results of this analysis were compared with surveys from other parts of the World.