Plasma levels of atrial natriuretic factor in normal children and patients treated by hemodialysis and continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis.

In an attempt to establish the reference data of plasma levels of atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) in different age groups and to evaluate plasma ANF changes before and after hemodialysis (HD) and during continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), fifty normal healthy children and 20 children with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) were included. Ten ESRD children received HD and 15 received CAPD therapy. Five cases received HD in the earlier period and then CAPD. The results showed that in normal children, at the age of under one month, there were higher plasma ANF levels. As age increased, plasma ANF levels progressively decreased. During the ESRD before dialysis, there was a significantly increased plasma ANF level (434.1 +/- 80.1 vs 17.5 +/- 2.3 pg/ml, P < 0.0001). Both HD and CAPD reduced the plasma ANF of patients to a lower degree, but the result was still higher than that in normal controls. There were significantly decreased plasma ANF level in the patients with CAPD therapy than those with HD (71.8 +/- 13.7 vs 270.3 +/- 51.9 pg/ml, P < 0.0001). The change of ANF levels was positively correlated with the body weight change and creatinine change after HD.