normal renal dimensions in iranian adults measured by ultrasound

introduction: correct interpretation of kidney images requires the knowledge of its normal size. this study aimed to establish normal values for kidney length and parenchymal thickness and identify the potential related factors in a group of iranian adults. methods: renal dimensions, including length and parenchymal thickness were measured by sonography in 103 individuals with no renal disease. statistical analyses were done to find the effect of different variables such as side, age, and gender using 2-tailed t-test, mann-whitney test, paired t test, and wilcoxon-signed rank test. the correlation of renal dimensions with anthropometric parameters, including weight, height, and body mass index (bmi) was analyzed using the pearson correlation coefficient. results: mean (sd) kidney length was 104.96(6.6) mm for the right, and 106.22(6.16) mm for the left kidney (p=0.02). mean (sd) parenchymal thickness for the right kidney was 16.9(1.6) mm and on the left side, it was 18.2(1.7) mm (p< 0.001). gender related analysis showed significant differences between male and female renal length and parenchymal thickness (p< 0.05). age group analysis regardless of sex showed significant decrease in renal length and parenchymal thickness beyond the fifth decade of life. there was a positive correlation between bilateral renal length and body weight as well as bmi. also, there was a weak positive correlation with body height. conclusion: because of several factors affecting on kidney size, its assessment should be made individually. the important influencing factors are ethnicity, gender, age, bmi, and height.