Risk profiles of referred chronic kidney disease patients in a tertiary nephrology centre

OBJECTIVE: To determine the risk profile of chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients. METHODS: This is an observational cross sectional study involving 130 patients for which data was collected prospectively.. Sixty five subjects with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) below 120 ml/min/1.73 m(2) were recruited via random sampling technique from nephrology clinic in a tertiary nephrology referral center. Medical history, demographic data, urinary and serum biochemistry tests were obtained. RESULTS: Most of the CKD patients who were referred to the nephrology clinic were asymptomatic. The most common laboratory abnormalities noted among CKD patients were proteinuria, anaemia and hyperkalaemia. Advancing age, pre-existing morbidities such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension and overweight are characteristics that are strongly associated with the referred CKD patients. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the referred CKD patients are in advanced age with diabetes, hypertension and overweight. Majority of the CKD remained asymptomatic despite in the advance stage of CKD. This strongly calls for cost effective screening for population at risk.