Factores de riesgo de da？o renal permanente en ni？os con infección del tracto urinario

background: in children, urinary tract infection (uti) is a very common disease, and can cause permanent kidney damage. aim: to determine risk factors for permanent kidney damage, in children with uti. patients and methods: in 337 children with uti (237 female, mean age 4,2 years) a static renal scintigraphy was performed to assess the presence of permanent kidney damage. the history of vesicoureteral reflux and number of episodes of uti was obtained. results: one hundred three children had a history of one episode of infection and the rest had recurrent infections. permanent kidney damage was observed in 161 children (48%). this damage was observed in 39% of children of less than one year of age, in 43% of children aged 1 to 5 years of age and in 58% of children older than 5 years (p=0.02). sixty three percent of 122 children with vesicoureteral reflux had permanent kidney damage, compared with 27% of children without this condition (p <0.001). likewise, damage was observed in 36% of children with one episode of infection and 47% of children with recurrent infections (p <0.01). no gender differences were observed. conclusions: vesicoureteral reflux, recurrence of uti and age are associated with permanent renal damage in children with uti (rev méd chile 2002; 130: 1147-53)