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Kidney length normative values — new percentiles by age and body surface area in Central European children and adolescents

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Abstract

Background

Kidney size evaluation is an essential examination in pediatric nephrology. While body length/height is the best predictor of kidney length, age-based and body surface area (BSA)–based normative values may be useful in clinical practice or research. This study aimed to establish ultrasound-based kidney length lambda-mu-sigma (LMS) percentiles by age and BSA in healthy children.

Methods

In 1758 Polish and Lithuanian children (868 boys, 49%) aged 0–19 years, kidney length was measured using ultrasonography. In all participants, anthropometric measurements were taken and kidney function was evaluated based on serum creatinine concentration. Participants with chronic or kidney diseases, abnormal kidney function, or pathologies in sonographic examination were excluded from the analysis.

Results

Kidney length (median kidney length) increased progressively from infancy to the age of 18 years, from 60.1 to 114.2 mm in males, and from 57.3 to 105.2 mm in females. A gradual increase of kidney length (50th percentile) in relation to BSA (from 46.1 mm in infants with a BSA of 0–1.2 m2 to 118.3 mm in adolescents with a BSA of 2.6–2.8 m2) was also observed. LMS percentiles by age (stratified by sex) and BSA were determined and presented as graphs and tables of percentiles and LMS parameters by 1-year age intervals and 0.2 m2 of BSA, respectively.

Conclusions

We present the first age- and BSA-based kidney length LMS normative values based on the largest pediatric cohort to date, which can be used in both clinical practice and research studies.

Graphical abstract

A higher resolution version of the Graphical abstract is available as Supplementary information

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Abbreviations

eGFR:

Estimated glomerular filtration rate

BSA:

Body surface area

BMI:

Body mass index

GFR:

Glomerular filtration rate

LMS:

Lambda-mu-sigma

USG:

Ultrasonography

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Acknowledgements

We thank all of the parents and children from kindergartens and schools in Warsaw, Gniewkowo, Toruń, and Inowrocław, for their participation in the research.

Funding

The study was funded by The Children’s Memorial Health Institute intramural grant S165/18. The funder had no role in the design and conduct of the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nephrology, Kidney Transplantation and Hypertension, Children’s Memorial Health Institute, al. Dzieci Polskich 20, 04-730, Warsaw, Poland

    Łukasz Obrycki, Marianna Lichosik, Michał Pac & Mieczysław Litwin

  2. Department of Radiology, Children’s Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland

    Jędrzej Sarnecki

  3. Department of Paediatrics, Paediatric Nephrology and Allergology, The Military Institute of Medicine, Warsaw, Poland

    Małgorzata Sopińska, Małgorzata Placzyńska, Bolesław Kalicki & Katarzyna Jobs

  4. Department of Pediatrics, Immunology and Nephrology, Polish Mother’s Memorial Hospital Research Institute, Łódź, Poland

    Małgorzata Stańczyk, Julia Mirecka & Marcin Tkaczyk

  5. Department of Radiology, Polish Mother’s Memorial Hospital Research Institute, Lodz, Poland

    Agnieszka Wasilewska & Maciej Michalski

  6. Outpatient Clinic “Esculap”, Gniewkowo, Poland

    Weronika Lewandowska & Tadeusz Dereziński

  7. Department of Pediatrics, Jan Bogdanowicz Children’s Hospital, Warsaw, Poland

    Natalia Szwarc

  8. Department of Paediatrics, Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases, Children’s Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland

    Karol Annusewicz & Viktoriia Rekuta

  9. Clinic of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Karolis Ažukaitis & Augustina Jankauskiene

  10. Department of Pediatric Radiology, Vilnius University Hospital Santaros Clinics, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Andrius Čekuolis

  11. Department of Biochemistry and Experimental Medicine, Children’s Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland

    Aldona Wierzbicka

  12. Division of Nephrology, Department of Pediatrics, The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Ottawa, Canada

    Janusz Feber

  13. Medical Center for Postgraduate Education, Warsaw, Poland

    Mieczysław Litwin

Authors
  1. Łukasz Obrycki
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  2. Jędrzej Sarnecki
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  3. Marianna Lichosik
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  4. Małgorzata Sopińska
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  5. Małgorzata Placzyńska
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  6. Małgorzata Stańczyk
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  7. Julia Mirecka
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  8. Agnieszka Wasilewska
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  9. Maciej Michalski
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  10. Weronika Lewandowska
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  11. Tadeusz Dereziński
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  12. Michał Pac
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  13. Natalia Szwarc
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  14. Karol Annusewicz
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  15. Viktoriia Rekuta
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  16. Karolis Ažukaitis
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  17. Andrius Čekuolis
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  18. Aldona Wierzbicka
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  19. Augustina Jankauskiene
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  20. Bolesław Kalicki
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  21. Katarzyna Jobs
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  22. Marcin Tkaczyk
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  23. Janusz Feber
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  24. Mieczysław Litwin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Łukasz Obrycki.

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Supplementary Information

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Graphical abstract

(PPTX 291 kb)

ESM 1

Supplementary Figure S1 Kidney length percentiles by weight in boys (PNG 280 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 2638 kb)

ESM 2

Supplementary Figure S2 Kidney length percentiles by weight in girls (PNG 254 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 2638 kb)

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Obrycki, Ł., Sarnecki, J., Lichosik, M. et al. Kidney length normative values — new percentiles by age and body surface area in Central European children and adolescents. Pediatr Nephrol 38, 1187–1193 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-022-05667-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-022-05667-2

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