Prevalence, Pattern and Association of Pruritus with Quality of Life in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients Attending Kidney Care Centre, Ondo City, Southwest Nigeria

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Pruritus is a common cutaneous manifestation of chronic kidney disease (CKD). It isassociated with poor sleep quality, anxiety and depression which may contribute to reduction in quality oflife (QoL). Paying more attention to pruritus in CKD patients may improve their QoL, reduce kidneydisease burden and mortality. This study determined the prevalence, pattern and association of prurituswith QoL in CKD patients.MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study carried out in a KidneyCare Centre, Ondo City, Southwest Nigeria. The severity and intensity of pruritus and health-relatedQoL were assessed using validated instruments. P-value of < 0.05 was taken as significant.RESULTS: There were 91 CKD subjects with a male:female ratio of 2.1:1. Sixty-nine (75.8%) of theCKD patients were not on dialysis while the remaining twenty-two (24.2%) were on maintenancehemodialysis (MHD). Thirty-nine (42.9%) of the CKD subjects had pruritus which was mild in25(64.1%), moderate in 8(20.5%) and severe in 6(15.4%). Pruritus was more common in MHD patientscompared to predialysis CKD patients(50%vs40.6%) p = 0.47. The median pruritus intensity score wasalso higher in MHD patients compared to predialysis CKD patients (40vs30) p = 0.51. There was nosignificant association between gender, age, aetiology of CKD, stage of CKD and pruritus. There was asignificant correlation between QoL score and pruritus intensity. (p = < 0.001, r = 0.56).CONCLUSION: Pruritus was common among our CKD subjects and it was not significantly associatedwith age, gender, stage or etiology of CKD. There was a significant association between impaired QoLand pruritus intensity.