Chronic kidney disease in Polish elderly population aged 75+: results of the WOBASZ Senior Survey

PURPOSE: Kidney filtration decreases with age, which results in an increased frequency of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the elderly population. The purpose of the study was to assess the prevalence and epidemiology of CKD in the Polish elderly population. METHODS: A representative sample of the Polish elderly population, composed of 918 people (F 452, M 466) in the age of ≥75 years, was chosen. All participants had their history, anthropometric measures and biochemical parameters (creatinine, fasting glucose, complete cholesterol) evaluated. CKD was diagnosed when eGFR was <60 ml/min/1.73 m(2). The comorbidities, anthropometric and social factors connected with the onset of CKD were also analyzed. RESULTS: The prevalence of CKD in the analyzed population was 26.9% (F 32.0%, M 15.8%), which gives an estimated number of 495,590 (95% CI 396,363–594,817) patients in the study subpopulation. The majority of these people were in the G3A category—70.1%, while the remaining fell under the G3B—25.7%, G4—3.1% and G5—1.1% categories. Disease awareness among the participants was found to be at 17%. Arterial hypertension (AH) was more frequent in people with CKD (91.0 vs. 80.3%, P < 0.001), whereas diabetes mellitus (DM) prevalence was comparable in both CKD and non-CKD groups (11.7 vs. 11.4%, ns). In the examined group, DM had no influence on the frequency of CKD. In contrast, the presence of cardiovascular diseases substantially increased the chances of developing CKD (OR 1.87, P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: 1. The prevalence of CKD in the Polish elderly population was 26.9%. 2. Awareness of CKD is low. 3. DM, increasing age and AH did not increase the risk of CKD. 4. Coexistence of cardiovascular diseases increased the risk of having CKD.