Survival of Balkan endemic nephropathy patients

The retrospective cohort study comprised 97 Balkan endemic nephropathy (BEN ) and BEN-suspected patients discovered in 1971 in the field examination in the village of Sopic, one of the regions most frequently affected by the d isease, Our aim was to determine the outcome of the disease in patients and to compare the survival of BEN-suspected and BEN-manifested patients and t he survival of their kidneys. The mean survival time was 16.4 years for all patients (95% CI 14.51-18.21) and 23.1 years for suspected and 13.3 years for manifested patients (log-rank = 19.46; d.f. = 1; p < 0.001), According to our results, it can be concluded that BEN is characterized by slow cours e and prolonged evolution and that the prognosis was consistently better fo r BEN-suspected than for BEN-manifested patients. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Kar ger AG, Basel.