Awareness of chronic kidney disease and its risk factors in the former Soviet Union countries

Abstract

<b>Purpose:</b> Assessment of public knowledge of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an essential step in<b> </b>development of CKD prevention and screening programs. Our aim was to estimate the level of public CKD knowledge and its predictors in the former Soviet Union countries using a validated questionnaire.<br /> <b>Materials and methods: </b>This cross-sectional survey was conducted in 10 countries using an adapted validated online questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to describe participants’ characteristics and assess public CKD knowledge level. A multiple linear regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of CKD knowledge.<br /> <b>Results: </b>2,715 participants satisfied the inclusion criteria. Respondents having higher level of education, living in countries belonging to the lower middle-income countries, having a personal history of diabetes and hypertension, and having a family history of kidney disease showed significantly better CKD knowledge.<br /> <b>Conclusions:</b> The level of CKD knowledge among the population of post-Soviet states was found to be low, although some personal characteristics were associated with better CKD knowledge.