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The effect of obesity on kidney length in a healthy pediatric population

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Abstract

Over the past decade, the percentage of children who are obese has rapidly increased. As weight has been shown to correlate strongly with the size of various organs, we have observed that obese children have larger kidneys than their normal-weight counterparts. This study sought to quantify this observation by establishing the normal limits of renal length for this population. We examined 204 healthy patients seen for benign hematuria between January 2000 and May 2008. Both right and left kidney lengths significantly correlated with age, height, weight, body mass index and body surface area in our obese patients (n = 59). Height was also found to be a significant predictor of kidney length, in the obese group, by multiple linear regression analysis and was used to create renal length nomograms for the obese pediatric population (P < 0.01). According to this analysis, obese patients had significantly larger kidneys than those of normal-weight patients (P < 0.01). By defining the normal limits of renal length for this group, unnecessary evaluation for nephromegaly will be avoided.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

    José-Rafael Pantoja Zuzuárregui

  2. University of California, San Francisco, Fresno, CA, USA

    Ronna Mallios

  3. Department of Nephrology, Children’s Hospital of Central California, 9300 Valley Children’s Place, Madera, CA, USA

    Jerome Murphy

Authors
  1. José-Rafael Pantoja Zuzuárregui
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  2. Ronna Mallios
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  3. Jerome Murphy
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Correspondence to Jerome Murphy.

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Pantoja Zuzuárregui, JR., Mallios, R. & Murphy, J. The effect of obesity on kidney length in a healthy pediatric population. Pediatr Nephrol 24, 2023–2027 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-009-1202-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-009-1202-1

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