Prevalence and pattern of multimorbidity among chronic kidney disease patients: a community study in chronic kidney disease hotspot area of Eastern India

INTRODUCTION: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is mostly asymptomatic until reaching an advanced stage. Although conditions such as hypertension and diabetes can cause it, CKD can itself lead to secondary hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Understanding the types and prevalence of associated chronic conditions among CKD patient could help improve screening for early detection and case management. METHODS: A cross sectional study of 252 CKD patients in Cuttack, Odisha (from the last 4 years CKD data base) was telephonically carried out using a validated Multimorbidity Assessment Questionnaire for Primary Care (MAQ-PC) tool with the help of an android Open Data Kit (ODK). Univariate descriptive analysis was done to determine the socio-demographic distribution of CKD patients. A Cramer’s heat map was generated for showing Cramer’s coefficient value of association of each diseases. RESULTS: The mean age of participants was 54.11 (±11.5) years and 83.7% were male. Among the participants, 92.9% had chronic conditions (24.2% with one, 26.2% with two and 42.5% with three or more chronic conditions). Most prevalent chronic conditions were hypertension (48.4%), peptic ulcer disease (29.4%), osteoarthritis (27.8%) and diabetes (13.1%). Hypertension and osteoarthritis were found to be most commonly associated (Cramer’s V coefficient = 0.3). CONCLUSION: Increased vulnerability to chronic conditions among CKD patients make them at higher risk for mortality and compromised quality of life. Regular screening of CKD patient for other chronic conditions (hypertension, diabetes, peptic ulcer disease, osteoarthritis and heart diseases) would help in detecting them early and undertake prompt management. The existing national program could be leveraged to achieve this.