Aetiology

Possible causes of chronic renal failure include: (1)

• multisystem disease:
  • diabetes mellitus is the main member of this group (30-50% of cases have Type 2 diabetes, 4% have Type 1 diabetes)
  • Alport's syndrome
• acute pyelonephritis / tubulointerstitial disease
• hypertension and vascular causes (27%)
• polycystic kidney disease - the most common cause of familial chronic renal failure
• primary glomerulonephritis - 8% of cases
• idiopathic in 15% of cases

Rarely:

• drugs - toxic nephropathy e.g. analgesic nephropathy
• connective tissue disease e.g. polyarteritis nodosa
• the causes of chronic renal failure in children are presented elsewhere

Reference

1. Webster AC, Nagler EV, Morton RL, Masson P. Chronic Kidney Disease. Lancet. 2017 Mar 25;389(10075):1238-1252.