Infection-Related Acute Care Events among Patients with Glomerular Disease

Infections contribute to patient morbidity and mortality in glomerular disease. We sought to describe the incidence of, and identify risk factors for, infection-related acute care events among Cure Glomerulonephropathy Network (CureGN) study participants. CureGN is a prospective, multicenter, cohort study of children and adults with biopsy sample-proven minimal change disease, FSGS, membranous nephropathy, or IgA nephropathy/vasculitis. Risk factors for time to first infection-related acute care events (hospitalization or emergency department visit) were identified using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. Of 1741 participants (43% female, 41% 3.5 mg/mg), compared with serum albumin >2.5 g/dl and urinary protein-creatinine ratio ≤3.5 mg/mg, was associated with higher risk of time to first infection (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.51 to 4.12). Among CureGN participants, infection-related acute care events were common and associated with younger age, corticosteroid exposure, and hypoalbuminemia with proteinuria.