Investigating Knowledge Level, Awareness, Risk Factors and Preventive practices of Patients Regarding Ckd in Northern Ghana

Abstract

Background: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is a major global health problem. CKD is one of the most common complications of diabetes mellitus and hypertension and carries a risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and usually progress to end-stage kidney disease. Objectives: The main objective of the study was to assess the knowledge, awareness and prevalence of chronic kidney disease among patients seeking healthcare at the Tamale Central Hospital Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out and a total of 260 respondents were selected by a systematic random sampling method and structured questionnaire were used to collect data from the respondent. Consent was sought from each selected participant, privacy and confidentiality was observed during the data collection. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 26.0. Results: Findings from this study discovered that, 96 (36.9%) of the respondents were between 25-30 years of age. Majority, 165 (63.5%) of the respondents were females, whiles 217 (83.5%) of the respondents have heard about chronic kidney disease. Regarding the source of information, majority 92 (35.4%) of the respondents heard about chronic kidney disease from healthcare workers. Majority, 212 (81.5%) of the respondents admitted it’s true that chronic kidney disease is a reduction in its ability to remove waste, 240 (92.3%) said its true chronic kidney disease means an infection of the kidney, 229 (88.1%) said its true chronic kidney disease means damage to the kidney. About 198 (76.2%) of the respondents believed drinking too little water can results in chronic kidney disease, almost all, 247 (95.0%) of the respondnets believe smoking can result into chronic kidney disease, also, majority 209 (80.4%) of the respondents believe untreated hypertension can result in CKD. Conclusion: The research question what is the knowledge level, awareness, risk factors and preventive practices of patients regarding CKD, was answered as the findings above speak to these questions. The burden of CKD remains serious and unacceptably high, appropriate preventive measures should be implemented to reduce kidney disease in Ghana and it is suggested that future research should look at a qualitative research method in order to spell out a lot of the information that respondents in this study were not able to give in detail due to the restrictions on the questionnaire used. A future study could seek to include more than one healthcare facility and increase the sample size.