Objective: The development of this review article evolved from a National Kidney Foundation consensus conference on recent advances in the importance of evaluating and treating proteinuria. From this conference, a series of recommendations for the evaluation of adults with proteinuria was published. Because specific pediatric aspects of the problem were outside the scope of the original National Kidney Foundation publication, an ad hoc committee of 6 pediatric nephrologists who were active participants in the National Kidney Foundation conference was established to provide primary care physicians with a concise, up-to-date reference on this subject.
Methods: The recommendations that are given represent the consensus opinions of the authors. These are based on data from controlled studies in children when available, but many of the opinions are, by necessity, based on uncontrolled series in children or controlled trials performed in adults, because controlled trials in children have not been performed to evaluate many of the treatments described.
Results and conclusions: These recommendations are intended to provide primary care physicians with a useful reference when they are faced with a young child or teenager who presents with proteinuria, whether this is mild and asymptomatic or more severe, leading to nephrotic syndrome.