Abstract:
Glomerulonephritis (GN) is a predominant cause of
kidney failure in Africa. The prevalence of primary
GNs varies widely across Africa depending on the
relative proportion of secondary GNs and genetic
predispositions. We assessed the overall and sub regional prevalence of primary GN and its histologic
subtypes in Africa. We searched PubMed, EMBASE
and African Journals Online for studies of biopsy proven primary GNs across all age groups in Africa
published between 2010 and 2022. Data for
primary GNs [minimal change disease (MCD), focal
segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), membranous
nephropathy (MN), mesangioproliferative GN
(MesPGN), membranoproliferative GN (MPGN),
post-infectious GN (PIGN), IgA Nephropathy (IgAN),
and crescentic GN (CresGN)] were extracted. Pooled
prevalence was determined using the random
effects model. Seventeen eligible articles (n = 6,494
individuals) from 8 African countries met the
inclusion criteria. The overall pooled prevalence of
FSGS, MCD, MN, MPGN, MesPGN, PIGN, IgAN and
CresGN was 26.10%, 22.40%, 8.40%, 6.40%, 6.40%,
2.60%, 2.60%, 1.40%, respectively. Only 4 studies
(23.5%) used light microscopy (LM),
immunofluorescence (IF), and electron microscopy
(EM) for diagnosis. There were significant
differences in the distribution of histologic subtypes
in the paediatric compared to the adult population
and across geographic sub-regions, with West
Africa having a higher prevalence of FSGS. Overall,
the dominance of FSGS across most regions and age
groups has implications for disease diagnosis and
ongoing care. Research efforts to understand the
impact of this trend on kidney disease outcomes
and efforts to improve kidney biopsy practice as a
means of early disease detection are needed in African
