Dyslipidemia among Sudanese Children Undergoing Maintenance Dialysis

Introduction: Dyslipidemia is an established risk factor for atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. It is common among children undergoing maintenance dialysis. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the lipid profile of children undergoing maintenance hemodialysis (HD) or continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) in Sudan. Methods: We studied 17 children on HD, 11 children on CAPD and 28 controls. The levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TGD) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured from fasting serum samples using electrophoresis and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) was then calculated. Results: End stage renal failure (ESRF) children had higher mean TC (193±36 versus 135±17 mg/dl), higher mean TGD (120±38 versus 90±15 mg/dl), higher mean LDL-C (129±32 versus 69±18 mg/dl), and lower mean HDL-C (39±12 versus 49±4 mg/dl) than controls (P=0.00 for all parameters). CAPD patients had higher mean TC (211±39 versus 181±30 mg/dl) and higher LDL-C (145±35 versus 118±25 mg/dl) than controls (P=0.03 for both parameters). The prevalence of dyslipidemia among ESRF patients was 75% while none of the control group had lipid parameters outside the accepted range. Among ESRF patients, 39.3% had TC > 200 mg/dl, 21.4% had TGD > 150 mg/dl, 42.9% had LDL-C > 130 mg/dl, and 35.7% had HDL-C < 35 mg/dl. Abnormal HDL-C values were more prevalent among CAPD patients compared to HD patients (52.9% versus 9.1%, P=0.02) Conclusion: Despite the small number of studied children, this study is likely to reflect the high prevalence of dyslipidemia among children undergoing maintenance dialysis treatment in Sudan. Keywords: Children; Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis; Dyslipidemia; Hemodialysis; Suda