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.