Introduction: Acute renal injury characteristics in women with preeclampsia and HELLP syndrome have not been thoroughly described; hence, the interest to determine it in our hospital population. Design: Retrospective descriptive study. Setting: Hospital Regional de Cajamarca, Peru. Participants: Women with HELLP syndrome. Methods: Women with HELLP syndrome with and without acute renal injury were compared. T-student test and U Mann-Whitney test for independent samples were used to compare medians. Main outcome measures: Development of acute renal injury. Results: There were 71 women (2%) with HELLP syndrome in 3 411 deliveries; 54 (76%) did not present acute renal injury and 17 (24%) did (0.5% of all deliveries). The stage was severe (2 and 3) in 94% of women with HELLP syndrome and acute renal injury, and these patients showed lower platelets and hemoglobin, and higher bilirrubin and he...