Assessment of Renal Function in the Elderly

Introduction: Over the age of 40, kidney function decreases with age, with a decrease in glomerular filtration (DFG) flow in the range of 0.5 to 1 ml/mn per year. Purpose: To study the épidémio-clinical and paraclinical profile of the kidney function of the elderly. Methods and Material: Cross-sectional study with prospective collection and retrospective data on the files of subjects aged 65 or over from 01 January 2017 to 30 May 2018. Results: Forty-four (44) files met the inclusion criteria out of 196, representing a hospital frequency of 21%. The sex ratio was 2.4. Medical history was represented by HTA (56.1%), diabetes 14.6%. The reasons for admission were: abdominal pain (22%), disorders of consciousness (22%) and edema syndrome (10%). Creatininemia was high (75.6%). The association hypocalcemia and hyperphosphatemia in 12.5%. Anemia was normocytic normocyticnormochrome (53%). On ultrasound a good differentiation of renal cortico-medullary (80.5%), kidneys of normal size (87.8%) and urinary tract dilation (4.9%). Kidney failure was acute (80.5%) chronic (19.5%). Dehydration accounted for 41% of the causes, followed by hypertensive kidney disease (9.75%). Conclusion: Kidney function changes with age. Cardiovascular risk factors should be prevented early and corrected as best they can be to prevent them from acting later.