Back
Since the first celebration, World Kidney Day (WKD) has been an excellent opportunity for education of population and health professionals, as well as for encouraging prevention and systematic screening of high-risk patients and stressing the importance of health authorities in controlling the CKD epidemic and investing in further kidney screening. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of CKD in the WKD events performed in our institutions, and the main characteristics of participants.
In our hospital, we have organized four major WKD events in 2011, 2017, 2020 (before the official declaration of COVID-19 pandemic in our country) and 2023, with educational and screening activities for CKD. With an intense promotion, general public was invited to attend this event. Patients with already known CKD, ESRD or self-reported potential transitory causes of proteinuria (i.e., urinary tract infections, menstruation, or fever) were excluded for screening. Participants received information by means of lectures, pamphlets, and videos about the importance of kidneys and CKD. Subsequently, they were subjected to medical and nutritional evaluations, blood pressure measurement, and anthropometry. In a blood sample obtained after verbal consent, serum creatinine was determined by the kinetic Jaffe-method (2011 and 2017), and by enzymatic method by spectrophotometry (2020 and 2023), and subsequently, glomerular filtration rate estimated (eGFR) with the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration creatinine equation. Additionally, a random urine sample was obtained for evaluation with an albuminuria-specific dipstick (Micral-Test; Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Mannheim, Germany) in 2011 and 2017, and by immunoturbidimetry to quantitatively measuring albumin in 2020 and 2023. After biochemical evaluation, all participants were invited to take part of workshops about self-care, nutrition, and exercise, to teach them how to improve their health, prevent CKD, and obtain better control of their diseases.
Figure 1 displays CKD prevalence by WKD event. Table 1 shows main sociodemographic and clinical data of participants, and Table 2 results of multivariate analysis of risk factors for CKD, by sex.
CKD screening during WKD in high-risk population like ours shows a prevalence higher than the reported in other settings. Some sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of participants have been changing through the years, which may reflect a higher attention from the public to kidney disease. Education, prevention, early diagnosis and timely treatment become even more important in countries with economic and resource limitations to fight CKD.