A total of 139 patients with acute renal failure (ARF) were studied, of which 41 (29.4) were elderly with mean age of 67.1 years and 98 (70.6) were younger with mean age of 32.3 years. Surgical causes accounted for 65of geriatric ARF while medical causes were predominant in the younger patients (55.1). Amongst the surgical causes, prostate-related problems due to obstruction or following transurethral resection of prostate were seen in 20 patients (74). Drugs and sepsis were the predominant causes of medical ARF in the geriatric patients (85.7). Of all the causes of geriatric ARF, which included both medical and surgical, nephrotoxic drugs either alone or in combination with other predisposing factors were the cause in 22 (51) patients. Haemodialysis was needed in 15 of geriatric (36.6) and 64 of younger (65.3) ARF patients. Recovery from ARF, as evidenced by normalization of serum creatinine, was delayed in the elderly as compared to the younger patients (32.0 versus 11.4 days,P<0.001). Mortality, though higher in the elderly as compared to the younger patients, was not significantly different (9.75versus 6.1).
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