Men are affected three times as often as women. There is also marked geographic variation in the prevalence of<unk>  throughout the world. It is the most common glomerular disease in the Far East and Southeast Asia, accounting for almost half of all the patients with glomerular disease. However, it accounts for only about 25% of the proportion in Europeans and about 10% among North Americans, with African–Americans having a very low prevalence of about 2%. A confounding factor in this analysis is the existing policy of screening and use of kidney biopsy as an investigative tool. School children in Japan undergo routine urinalysis (as do army recruits in Singapore) and any suspicious abnormality is pursued with a kidney biopsy, which might partly explain the high observed incidence of<unk>  in those countries. Genetics Though various associations have been described, no consistent pattern pointing to a single susceptible gene has been identified to date. Associations described include those with C4 null allele, factor B Bf alleles, MHC antigens and<unk>  isotypes. ACE gene polymorphism (D allele) is associated with progression of kidney failure, similar to its association with other causes of chronic kidney failure. However, more than 90% of cases of<unk>  are sporadic, with a few large pedigrees described from Kentucky and Italy ().
IgA nephropathy
Analgesic nephropathy
Mesoamerican nephropathy
Malarial nephropathy
Shunt nephritis
Sickle cell nephropathy
Reflux nephropathy
Membranous glomerulonephritis