Growth rates in pediatric dialysis patients and renal transplant recipients

We compared growth rates by modality over a 6- to 14-month period in 1,302 US pediatric end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients treated during 1990. Modality comparisons were adjusted for age, sex, race, ethnicity, and ESRD duration using linear regression models by age group (0.5 to 4 years, 5 to 9 years, 10 to 14 years, and 15 to 18 years). Growth rates were higher in young children receiving a transplant compared with those receiving dialysis (ages 0.5 to 4 years, Delta = 3.1 cm/yr v continuous cycling peritoneal dialysis [CCPD], P < 0.01; ages 5 to 9 years, Delta = 2.0 to 2.6 cm/yr v CCPD, chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), and hemodialysis, P < 0.01). In contrast, growth rates in older children were not statistically different when comparing transplantation with each dialysis modality, For most age groups of transplant recipients, we observed faster growth with alternate-day versus daily steroids that was not fully explained by differences in allograft function, Younger patients ((15 years) grew at comparable rates with each dialysis modality, while older CAPD patients grew faster compared with hemodialysis or CCPD patients (P < 0.02), There was no substantial pubertal growth spurt in transplant or dialysis patients, This national US study of pediatric growth rates with dialysis and transplantation shows differences in growth by modality that vary by age group. (C) 1997 by the National Kidney Foundation, Inc.