Childhood haemolytic uraemic syndrome : long-term outcome and prognostic features

From January 1970 to December 1982, 95 infants and children with the haemolytic uraemic syndrome were admitted to our unit. Six patients died (6.3%) in the acute phase, 4 went into end-stage renal failure (4.2%) within months after the acute episode. The remaining 85 patients (89.5%) survived and recovered. They were followed as outpatients at yearly intervals for 5 years. Arterial hypertension was a major problem in 7. Eighty patients were studied 10 years later: 52 of them (65%) had no sequelae, 21 (26%) had mild defects and 7 (9%) severe sequelae. Clinical and laboratory data at the onset were analysed for prognostic significance. The immediate outcome was significantly worse in patients with either arterial hypertension or central nervous system manifestations on admission. Yet, no single variable studied during the acute phase was predictive of the presence of sequelae after 10 years. Even when all complications i.e. anuria, hypertension and central nervous system involvement, were taken together, there was no difference between patients with and patients without sequelae.