Associations Between Toxic Metal Exposure and Childhood Nephrotic Syndrome. | ScholarDeck

Paper

Associations Between Toxic Metal Exposure and Childhood Nephrotic Syndrome.

New research · Pediatrics

Kidney international reports · 2w

Cohort studyKidney international reports· Apr 2026

Associations Between Toxic Metal Exposure and Childhood Nephrotic Syndrome.

Cal Robinson, Nowrin Aman, Harshita Arora … Rulan S Parekh

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Pediatric NephrologyCohort studyQ1IF 3.9

Toenail mercury level not associated with relapse rate in childhood nephrotic syndrome

Associations Between Toxic Metal Exposure and Childhood Nephrotic Syndrome.

Cal Robinson … Rulan S Parekh

Kidney international reports · Apr 2026

Background

Mercury intoxication causes nephrotic syndrome in children and adults.

Purpose

We aimed to evaluate the associations between metal exposure and childhood nephrotic syndrome outcomes.

Methods

We analyzed data from the Insight into Nephrotic Syndrome: Investigating Genes, Health, and Therapeutics (INSIGHT) study, a prospective childhood nephrotic syndrome cohort.

n = 298 children

Results

toenail mercury level did not predict relapse risk

OR by subgroup · 95% CI

More results

Less than 1% had nail mercury and 10% had other metal concentrations above the reference limits.

None had metal concentrations in a potentially toxic range.

In addition, concentrations of other individual or combined metals were not associated with nephrotic syndrome outcomes.

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Conclusion

Evidence of high exposure to mercury and other toxic heavy metals is rare among Canadian children with nephrotic syndrome. We did not find evidence that chronic exposure to toxic heavy metals is associated with nephrotic syndrome outcomes.

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