Back
New Caledonia is a French overseas archipelago located in the southwest Pacific region, about 1,210 km east of Australia, and 17,000 km from mainland France. This territory of 271,407 people (2019 census) is divided into three provinces: South (212,082 inhabitants), North (49,910 inhabitants) and Loyalty Islands (18,353 inhabitants). The New Caledonia's population is of diverse origins with 41,2% of people declaring belonging to Melanesian community, 24% to European community, 8% to Wallisian community and less than 8% from others community (Tahiti, Indonesia, Vanuatu, etc.).
The prevalence rate of end-stage renal disease is 3,000 per million inhabitants, making it one of the highest prevalence rates in the world and over two times higher than France. Preventing chronic kidney disease is therefore a major public health issue. This article presents, for the first time, the prevalence rate of chronic kidney disease stage 3-5 without replacement therapy for New Caledonia.
Estimation was assessed from a community-based survey based on the WHO STEPwise approach in the Caledonian adult population in 2015 (Survey 1) and 2022 (Survey 2). To ensure representativeness of all provinces, a stratified 3-stage random sampling was designed for both surveys. First, districts (geographic divisions) were selected, then households, and then the person to be surveyed.
Among the 1,038 participants in Survey 1 and 775 in Survey 2, respectively 50.4% and 49.9% were men. The average age was lower for participants in Survey 1 than for those in Survey 2 (37.6 years versus 42.4 years). During Survey 1, Melanesian and European communities represented 45.2% and 24.5% and the obesity rate was 37.6%. During Survey 2, Melanesian and European communities represented 35.5% and 25.3%, the obesity rate was 40.5%. Prevalence rates of chronic kidney disease stage 3-5 without replacement therapy in New Caledonia was 7.8% [6.1; 10.1] in Survey 1 and 5.3% [3.3; 8.5] in Survey 2, corresponding to a minimum of 5,643 people and a maximum of 16,281 people affected.
Thereby, those prevalence rates were 2 to 4 times higher than in mainland France (1.5 to 2.1% in population aged 18 to 74 years in France, Esteban 2024-2016 study) which is consistent with the high prevalence rate of end stage renal disease treated in New Caledonia. Identifying and managing patients who have early stages of chronic kidney disease may slow or prevent the disease progression and reduce cardiovascular complications. Assessing chronic kidney disease epidemiology in New Caledonia is required to monitor country trends, to make comparisons with other countries and to plan appropriately preventive actions and health care needs.