Urinary KIM-1 is not correlated with gestational age among 5-year-old children born prematurely

• Published in: Frontiers in pediatrics 2023-03, Vol.11, p.1038206
• Main Authors: Restrepo, Jaime M, Torres-Canchala, Laura, Bonventre, Joseph V, Arias, Juan C, Ferguson, Michael, Villegas, Adriana, Ramirez, Oscar, Filler, Guido
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: gestational age (GA); KIM-1 (kidney injury molecule 1); Pediatrics; prematurity and low birth weight; renal volume z-scores; specific gravity (density)
• ISSN: 2296-2360; 2296-2360
• DOI: 10.3389/fped.2023.1038206

Preterm birth is associated with decreased nephron endowment. Currently, there is no reliable non-invasive biomarker to identify or monitor decreased nephron number in at-risk patients. Urinary Kidney Injury Molecule-1 (KIM-1) is a biomarker of acute and chronic renal injury. We measured urinary KIM-1 among a wide array of other potential biomarkers. We conducted an ambispective cohort study of 5-years-old children born prematurely and healthy controls identified from city schools. Detailed anthropometrics, renal ultrasound dimensions, and biochemical parameters were measured. Urinary KIM-1 was measured using Luminex® technology. Age independent z-scores were calculated and compared. Spearman correlations were used for estimating the association between measures and KIM-1. We enrolled 129 children, 97 (75.2%) born pre-term and 32 (24.8%) healthy controls born at full-term. Pre-term patients had significantly lower weight and body surface area than controls. Pre-term patients and controls did not differ in current age, sex, race, height, blood pressure, urinary sodium, fractional sodium excretion, serum creatinine and estimated GFR. All spearman correlation between KIM-1 and gestational age, renal and serum measurements were weak without statistical significance. In 5-year-old children born prematurely, KIM-1 was not correlated with gestational age. Further prospective studies need to confirm this finding.