In adults, end-stage renal disease, or ESRD, is most commonly a complication of diabetes or hypertension. In children, teens and young adults, it’s a different picture entirely. New research finds that more than half of people needing a kidney transplant before age 25 have a congenital anomaly of the kidney or urinary tract, and that 40 percent have an identifiable genetic cause of ESRD. Knowing these genetic underpinnings can inform better care for patients with kidney disease, says study leader Friedhelm Hildebrandt, MD, chief of the Division of Nephrology at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Hildebrandt and his colleagues drew on 263 families whose child received a new kidney at Boston Children’s between 2007 and 2017, before the age of 25. In 68 families, the team was able to perform whole-exome sequencing, comparing their DNA with a normal reference sample. …