Acute kidney injury and diabetic kidney disease in children with acute complications of diabetes

Background Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and hyperglycaemia without ketoacidosis are common acute complications of diabetes. Their association with acute kidney injury (AKI) and diabetic kidney disease (DKD) was studied. Methods The study group consisted of 197 children with type 1 diabetes with average diabetes duration of 8.08 ± 2.32 years. The medical history of the patients was retrospectively reviewed. The number of children with severe hyperglycaemia, DKA and AKI was assessed. The association with the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) was analysed. Results AKI was found in 14% of cases hospitalised for DKA and 8% of cases hospitalised for hyperglycaemia. Patients with AKI showed a significantly increased corrected sodium (141.23 ± 5.09 mmol/L, p = 0.035). Patients with AKI in DKA showed a significant increase in WBC (20.73 ± 8.71 × 103/µL, p = 0.0009). Follow-up analysis after a minimum of 5 years of diabetes revealed that a single episode of DKA was found in 63 patients and a single episode of AKI in 18 patients. Two or more episodes of DKA were found in 18 patients, and nine cases were complicated by AKI. These patients showed a significant increase in urinary albumin excretion (44.20 ± 64.21 mg/24 h), the highest values of eGFR and the worst glycaemic control. Conclusions Diabetic children can develop AKI in the course of DKA and hyperglycaemia without ketoacidosis, which is associated with volume depletion and reflected by corrected sodium concentration. AKI in DKA seems to be complicated by stress and inflammation activation. AKI and poor glycaemic control with repeated DKA episodes can magnify the risk of progression to DKD. Graphical abstract