OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between race and type of glomerulonephritis, taking into account age, gender and the presence of hepatosplenic schistosomiasis mansoni. METHODS: Patients from the Renal Service of the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil, 80 with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSG) and 50 with membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) were compared regarding the distribution of the racial types (black, mulatto, white). Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus or any kind of autoimmune disease were not included in the present analysis. Adjusted comparisons were performed using the Mantel-Haenszel method and a multivariate logistic regression model. RESULTS: Race was significantly associated with histologic type; the odds of being classified as black or mulatto were approximately 2.4 times higher (odds ratio=2.43; IC 95%=1.09-5.45) in patients with FSG than in those with MPGN. The association between race and histologic type was not influenced by the potential effects of age, gender and hepatosplenic schistosomiasis. In the multivariate logistic regression model, race was significantly associated (p=0.037) with type of glomerulonephritis (odds ratio=2.54; IC 95%=1.06-6.06). CONCLUSION: A higher frequency of negroes and mulattoes in the FSG group (compared with MPGN) in this sample from the State of Bahia is consistent with findings of previous studies from the United States. The data support the possibility of a greater susceptibility to FSG among negroes and mulattoes, independently of age, gender and schistosomiasis. The identification of the mechanisms that determine this racial difference represents an important question for future investigations.
Race; Black; Glomerulonefritis; Schistosomiasis
