Background: At 5:28 a.m. (local time) on December 26, 2003, an earthquake measuring 6.51 on the Richter scale struck the city of Bam in the Kerman Province in southeastern Iran. Among the most important morbid events in survivors were acute renal problems. Clinical findings, laboratory data, and management of the renal victims, all of whom were transferred to Shiraz Hospitals, have been the subject of this analysis.
Method: Medical records of twenty patients with acute renal failure admitted to three university hospitals and one community hospital were reviewed.
Results: Overall, 801 patients were transferred to Shiraz hospitals, of whom 20 (mean age 36.2 +/- 14.8 years, 15 males) developed acute renal failure with mean duration of 14.5 +/- 9.6 days. Total mortality was 21 (2.6%) and acute renal failure mortality was 3 (15%). Seven patients received standard fluid therapy and 13 patients received variable volume treatment. In total, 79 dialysis sessions were performed in 15 patients (mean 5.2, 3.3 +/- 1 sessions per patients). There was a positive correlation between time spent under rubble and peak serum CK (creatine phosphokinase) level (p = 0.035), acute renal failure duration (p = 0.047), and admission potassium levels (p = 0.033). Serum CK level was positively correlated with acute renal failure duration (p = 0.008). Patients who had received standard treatment had significantly shorter duration of acute renal failure (7.1 versus 9.4 days, p = 0.008) and less need for dialysis (1 versus 6, p = 0.007) than patients who were treated variably.
Conclusion: In victims of earthquake, time spent under rubble and peak serum CK level can serve to estimate morbidity, and early standard treatment may decrease renal morbidity.