Reference values of somatometric and sonographic renal parameters of apparently healthy Hausa children in Kano metropolis, Nigeria

Accurate measurement of organ size is important in children to estimate adequate growth. Among various growth parameters, kidney size is an important parameter used for the clinical evaluation of renal growth and renal abnormalities. The study is aimed at evaluating the renal volume using ultrasound scan in normal Hausa primary school children in Kano aged 2 to 13 years. The study design was prospective cross sectional conducted among healthy Hausa children, aged 2 to 13 in Kano metropolis from October 2017 to October 2019. Approval to carry out the study was obtained from the State Universal Basic Education, Kano, Ministry of Health, Kano. Informed oral and written consent were obtained from the child’s parents or caregiver. A simple random sampling was employed in the study and a total of 457 subjects were recruited. The instrument used was MindrayDigiprince DP4900 ultrasound machines with 3.5 – 5.0MHz curvilinear transducer. Renal ultrasound scan was performed on all the selected subjects. SPSS version 22.0 was used for the data analysis. The mean heights, weights and BMI of the subjects were 1.21±0.11m, 20.46±4.92kg and 13.93kg/m2. The mean renal length, thickness, width and renal volume were 7.69±0.71cm, 3.31 ± 0.42cm, 4.80 ± 0.49cm and 64.79±16.13cm3 respectively. This study provides data for normal sonographic renal volume and length in Kano metropolis, a Hausa dominated Nigerian population.