Morbidity Pattern in End Stage Renal Disease Patients Before And After Renal Transplantation

Abstract

Introduction: To effectively and efficiently plan programmes for prevention and control of End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD)/ chronic kidney disease, there is a need for basic epidemiological and clinical data. This hospital-based descriptive study on renal transplant patients attempted to provide some information on their morbidity pattern before and after renal transplantation. Methods: A hospital-based study was conducted at the Teaching Hospital, Kandy. The study sample consisted of 305 patients who had undergone real transplant and attended the clinic during the three month period of data collection. Interviewer administered questionnaire was used as the data collection tool. Results: Renal transplant patients are prone to infections mainly due to iatrogenic immunosuppression. Cytomegalovirus infection was the commonest. Other common infections observed were upper respiratory tract infections, gastroenteritis and urinary tract infections. All the patients who participated in the study developed at least one non-communicable disease during the follow up period. Anaemia (54%) was the most common problem encountered, followed by rejection, both acute and chronic (50%) and dyslipidaemia (44%). Almost all the participants had hypertension developed before or after the transplantation. This suggests that hypertension is leading to ESRD, resulting from ESRD or just a co-morbidity. Conclusion: Cytomegalovirus infection was the commonest infectious disease reported. Other common infections observed in this study were upper respiratory tract infections, gastroenteritis and urinary tract infections. All the patients developed at least one non-communicable disease during the follow up period. Key words: Morbidity, Renal Transplant, Non Communicable Disease