Nadia Pourmohammadi
1 
, Azadeh Khayyat
2 , Mohammad Ali Esmaeil Pour
3 , Maryam Ghasemi
4* , Parisa Kaviani
5 1 Indipendent Researcher, Mashhad, Iran
2 Pathology Department of Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
3 Medical College of Georgia, Augusta University, Rheumatology department, Augusta, GA, USA
4 Renal Division, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
5 Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
Abstract
IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is a common glomerular disease affecting individuals across the age spectrum. However, there are differences in the presentation and prognosis of IgAN between elderly and young adults. Elderly patients with IgAN tend to present with more severe kidney disturbances, worse baseline renal function, and a poorer prognosis compared to young adults. The Oxford classification contributes to the overall prognosis of IgAN in elderly patients by improving prognostic assessment, providing a better determinant of kidney survival, and combining histopathologic findings with clinical features. It offers a more comprehensive approach to understanding the disease course and predicting outcomes in elderly individuals with IgAN. Understanding these differences is a fundamental basis for pinpointing potential therapeutic targets to mitigate age-related renal pathology in IgAN patients.
Implication for health policy/practice/research/medical education:
Elderly individuals with IgA nephropathy tend to have a greater quantity of proteinuria at the time of renal biopsy than their younger counterparts and higher degrees of proteinuria is associated with a higher risk of progression to ESRD Moreover, a higher percentage of crescentic glomeruli in young adults and higher degrees of tubulointerstitial fibrosis in elderly patients were seen. It is noteworthy that elderly patients with IgAN tend to have less favorable prognosis compared to young adults.
Please cite this paper as: Pourmohammadi N, Khayyat A, Esmaeil Pour MA, Ghasemi M, Kaviani P. Elderly versus young IgA nephropathy; an update on current data. J Nephropathol. 2024;13(4):e25552. DOI: 10.34172/jnp.2024.25552.