Knowledge, Attitudes and practices to detect and prevent Chronic Kidney Disease among hypertensive patients at primary and cardiology clinics in the Emirates of Ajman and Sharjah, UAE

Abstract

The alarming association of Hypertension and Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) has urged severalresearch to investigate the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of CKD among hypertensive patients,yet none was donein the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study aimed to assess the KAP concerning CKDand their relation to the socio-demographic and clinical factors of hypertensive patients. A cross-sectional study was conducted among hypertensive patients attending cardiology and primary clinics in the Emirates of Ajman and Sharjah in the UAE. A validated face-to-face questionnairewas conductedfrom December 2019 until February 2020. The questionnaire consisted of three sections: socio-demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics and the KAP scales. Multiple linear regression was used to analyze the relation of the KAP scores to the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics.A total of 200 patients with hypertension consented to participate. The mean age was 49.97(±9.67) years. The percentages of knowledge, attitudes and practices scores about prevention and detection of CKD were 50.8%, 66.6% and 71.7% respectively.A higherknowledge score wasrelated significantly to female gender, urban residency and university level education.Cardiology clinic setting was the only significant factor related to higher attitudes score. Furthermore, higher knowledge score, higher attitudesscoreand urban residencywas significantly related tohigher practices score.Hypertensive patients require more attentionto implement CKD awareness programs that could possibly improve theirpreventive practices.