Abstract
Objectives
In this population-based study, reference values were generated for renal length, and the heritability and factors associated with kidney length were assessed.
Methods
Anthropometric parameters and renal ultrasound measurements were assessed in randomly selected nuclear families of European ancestry (Switzerland). The adjusted narrow sense heritability of kidney size parameters was estimated by maximum likelihood assuming multivariate normality after power transformation. Gender-specific reference centiles were generated for renal length according to body height in the subset of non-diabetic non-obese participants with normal renal function.
Results
We included 374 men and 419 women (mean ± SD, age 47 ± 18 and 48 ± 17 years, BMI 26.2 ± 4 and 24.5 ± 5 kg/m2, respectively) from 205 families. Renal length was 11.4 ± 0.8 cm in men and 10.7 ± 0.8 cm in women; there was no difference between right and left renal length. Body height, weight and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) were positively associated with renal length, kidney function negatively, age quadratically, whereas gender and hypertension were not. The adjusted heritability estimates of renal length and volume were 47.3 ± 8.5 % and 45.5 ± 8.8 %, respectively (P < 0.001).
Conclusion
The significant heritability of renal length and volume highlights the familial aggregation of this trait, independently of age and body size. Population-based references for renal length provide a useful guide for clinicians.
Key Points
• Renal length and volume are heritable traits, independent of age and size.
• Based on a European population, gender-specific reference values/percentiles are provided for renal length.
• Renal length correlates positively with body length and weight.
• There was no difference between right and left renal lengths in this study.
• This negates general teaching that the left kidney is larger and longer.
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Acknowledgments
M.P., B.P., D.A., G.E. and I.G. and the study were supported by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (FN 33CM30-124087). Some of the results of this paper were obtained by using the program package S.A.G.E., which was supported by a U.S. Public Health Service Resource Grant (RR03655) from the National Center for Research Resources.
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Supplementary Table A
Associations between mean renal volume (in ml) and phenotypic characteristics of all participants (n = 793), assessed by multilevel multivariable linear regression, and expressed as regression coefficient β (95 % CI) (DOCX 18 kb)
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Pruijm, M., Ponte, B., Ackermann, D. et al. Heritability, determinants and reference values of renal length: a family-based population study. Eur Radiol 23, 2899–2905 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-013-2900-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-013-2900-4