Acute renal failure in the tropics: emerging trends from a tertiary care hospital in South India.
AIM: To study epidemiology, laboratory parameters, outcome and factors determining outcome of patients presenting with acute renal failure in our hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A prospective study between December 1997-December 1999 in which all patients presenting with acute renal failure were included. Demographics, laboratory parameters, etiology, outcome and prognostic factors determining outcome were studied. RESULTS: 642 patients were part of the study. The predominant underlying cause for ARF was sepsis (153/642); overall mortality was 26.5%. Patients who had sepsis were admitted in the ICU, and patients with oliguria had poorer outcome. CONCLUSION: Sepsis continues to be the predominant cause of ARF. Overall mortality of our patients is better, because of the case mix, a large percentage of patients had acute gastroenteritis as a cause of CRF.