Knowledge and practice of hypertensive patients toward prevention and early detection of chronic kidney disease and associated factors in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to determine the knowledge, attitude, and practices of hypertensive patients toward chronic kidney disease (CKD). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from September to November 2021 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, using a semi-structured questionnaire that had been previously prepared and tested. Results: In this study, data from 417 hypertensive patients were collected. Among them, 52.5% were males and 23.5% were aged between 50 and 60 years, while in general, 56.1% were older than 40 years old. In general, it was found that 53.5% of hypertensive patients had an inadequate level of knowledge regarding CKD. The main practices of the participants to reduce the risk of kidney disease included not smoking (77.5%), seeking medical help if they noticed signs of kidney disease (67.1%), following medication regimen (57.8%), and regular exercise such as walking and jogging (41.2%). Conclusion: It was found that less than half of the hypertensive patients had adequate knowledge considering CKD. There is an urgent need to increase the awareness of the patients toward CKD risk factors. Moreover, it was found that patients had a good attitude and practice considering the risk factors.