Profile and Early Detection of Chronic Kidney Disease in Patients Attending the Clinic of El Resbaladero Canton

Abstract

In recent years, El Salvador has been affected by a growing number of people with some degree of chronic kidney disease, to the point of becoming one of the five leading causes of hospital death among men and women aged 30 to 60 years. Mortality increased from 33% in 2015 to 37% in the following year. This situation is reflected in the community of El Resbaladero canton, Coatepeque municipality, Santa Ana department, where six deaths from this terminal disease occurred in the past two years. With the aim of early detection of new cases of this silent disease and follow-up of patients—preventing advanced stages requiring hemodialysis and its associated costs—this research was conducted using a sample of patients aged 30 to 60 who attended the health clinic operated by the Catholic University of El Salvador in that community.

A total of 103 patients participated. Serum creatinine tests were performed, and later, using the Cockcroft-Gault equation, glomerular filtration rate was calculated to assess kidney function. It was found that 12.6% (13 participants) showed decreased glomerular filtration in stages II and IIIa; in 30.8% of these participants, non-traditional risk factors were detected.