BACKGROUND:  Acute kidney injury (AKI) has become a global health problem and is associated with increased morbidity, mortality and overall health expenditure. Information on the epidemiology and outcomes of AKI will help to audit practice and advocate for policies that will reduce this burden. This study determined aetiologies, short term outcomes and their predictors in AKI patients in a tertiary hospital in Southwest Nigeria.

METHODS: This was an 18-month   retrospective study   that   involved   91 patients with AKI. The socio-demographic information, aetiology, severity and the treatment given to patients were recorded. Outcomes and their predictors were determined using multivariate analysis. P value < 0.05 was taken as statistically significant.

RESULTS: The mean age of the study population was 45.12 ±20.67 years. Common causes of AKI were sepsis in 50(54.9%), hypovolaemia in 23(25.3%), cardiac failure in 7(7.7%) and eclampsia in 6(6.6%). Fifty-seven (62.6%) presented with stage 3. Thirty-one (34.1%) had haemodialysis. Forty-eight (52.7%) had complete renal recovery, 35(38.5%) died and 3(3.3%) left against medical advice while five (5.5%) were referred to other hospitals.  Stage 3 AKI (Adjusted odd ratio: 6.79, confidence interval: 1.21:38.04, p = 0.029) and age ≥ 65 years (Adjusted odd ratio: 4.14, confidence interval: 1.32-13.04, p = 0.015) were significant predictors of mortality in AKI patients.

CONCLUSION: Sepsis and hypovolaemia were the commonest causes of AKI. The associated mortality is still  high and factors associated with mortality were late presentation and older age. Early presentation, treatment and making haemodialysis affordable are key to improving AKI outcomes.

KEYWORDS: aetiologies, outcomes, acute kidney injury

DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ejhs.v26i1.8