ANTICIPATION OF AGE AT RENAL DEATH IN AUTOSOMAL-DOMINANT POLYCYSTIC KIDNEY-DISEASE (ADPKD)

It has been claimed that anticipation occurs in ADPKD, i.e. endstage r enal failure at progressively earlier age in successive generations. T his observation might possibly point to unstable DNA as the molecular basis of ADPKD. We analysed 74 parent-offspring pairs of 148 families in Germany and Austria in whom (i) ADPKD was verified by appropriate i maging procedures and (ii) age at renal death was accurately known. Th e median difference for age at renal death between parent and offsprin g was 0 years, range -26.3 to + 27.2 years. There was no deviation fro m normal (Gaussian) distribution according to the Shapiro-Wilk test (P = 0.75). We conclude that systematic anticipation cannot be demonstra ted with this sample which had sufficient size for meaningful biostati stical analysis.