#332 Dermatological manifestations in pediatric CKD patients
Authors: Sallam Dina E 
Published: May 2024

Background and Aims

Chronic kidney disease (CKD), regardless of its cause, may be accompanied by various skin lesions. The most common symptom in children suffering from CKD is pruritus however other signs that may be seen are xerosis, skin hyperpigmentation, ecchymoses, acquired perforating dermatoses, nail lesions, calcinosis cutis, as well as eczematous lesions at the site of an arteriovenous fistula and skin infections.

Data on different skin lesions in children with CKD is very limited; only few reports have been published discussing xerosis in pediatric patients and most studies were conducted on a small number of patients who needed renal replacement therapy .

This study aimed primarily to screen the different dermatological manifestations in pediatric patients with CKD, in addition to studying the relationship of dermatological manifestations with the CKD stage, types of dialysis, various clinical and metabolic parameters.

Method

This was a cross sectional study, that was conducted at Pediatric Dialysis and Nephrology unit, Children's Hospital, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University Hospital, Cairo, Egypt, during the period from February 2023 to August 2023, where 70 patients were enrolled in our study being divided into two groups: group 1 including CKD patients stages (2-4) and group 2 including CKD patients with stage 5 on regular hemodialysis.

Detailed dermatological & nail examination were conducted. Xerosis severity was assessed using a four-point xerosis assessment scale (0, normal skin, without any xerosis; 1, mild xerosis; 2, moderately dry skin with minimal flaking; 3, severe xerosis, heavy scaling visible), whereas pruritus was assessed using a visual analogue scale (VAS) on a scale of 1 (no itch) to 10 (worst possible itch).

Laboratory data were withdrawn at the time of examination to correlate with different dermatological manifestation.

Results

In our study, xerosis was the most frequent dermatological manifestation (78.6%) following it pruritus (62.9%) then pallor (35.7%), hyperpigmentation (20%), hypertrichosis (10 %), nail and hair abnormalities (8.5%) & post inflammatory hyperpigmentation (4.3%). The prevalence of xerosis was not affected by clinico-demographic data, CKD duration & stage, type and duration of dialysis, the only significant relation was between efficacy of dialysis (Kt/V) and incidence of xerosis, where the higher dialysis efficacy rates were associated with low incidence rates of xerosis, in which effective hemodialysis contributes to better removal of uremic toxins, & hence decrease the xerosis. Leukocytosis was noticed in xerotic & pruritic patients, where xerosis & impaired skin barrier in children with CKD pose a risk for different cutaneous infections & inflammation, and hence pruritis.

Conclusion

Xerosis and pruritis are not uncommon dermatological manifestations among pediatric patients with chronic kidney disease, meanwhile the age of the patients and the underlying CKD etiology had no direct effect on skin changes. The most determinant factory affecting the xerosis was the hemodialysis efficacy, where higher efficacy was associated with less xerosis, meanwhile leukocytosis was associated with higher xerosis and pruritis.

Further studies are needed to detect various skin manifestations in CKD patients with different CKD stages and correlate it with the used dialysis modalities.