Assessment of kidney disease knowledge among chronic kidney disease patients in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: The persistent global increase in chronic kidney disease (CKD) prevalence highlights the importance of providing patients with sufficient knowledge to allow them to self-manage their disease.

OBJECTIVES: To gain insights into non-dialysis CKD patients' knowledge of their disease, and assess associations between knowledge and sample characteristics.

DESIGN: A descriptive cross-sectional design was undertaken.

PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of 203 stages 3-5 CKD patients was recruited.

MEASUREMENTS: The Kidney Disease Knowledge Survey (KiKs) was used.

RESULTS: This study revealed that the mean age of the patients was 47.34 years. 50.2% were male and most (75.9%) were married. The mean score of knowledge (measured using KiKs) relating to kidney disease was 17.87 ± 3.212. The lowest scores were related to knowledge of effects of proteinuria (13.3%), meanings of "glomerular filtration rate" (29.6%) and "targeted blood pressure" (31.5%). Although more than 60% of participants knew about some kidney functions, they misunderstood others, including those related to glucose control (23.6%) and blood pressure (54.7%). Patients displayed knowledge scores >70% for five other areas, including disease stage and time since diagnosis. Almost all participants did not know that chronic kidney disease (CKD) could be asymptomatic. The results showed that late-stage CKD (Stages 4 and 5) and longer time since diagnosis of CKD were independently associated with a higher score of knowledge (r = 0.18, p = 0.017; r = 0.41, p < 0.001; r = 0.26, p = 0.001, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS: This study provided initial insights on CKD-related knowledge among patients with Stage 3-5 CKD in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Many gaps in knowledge were identified, especially those relating to blood pressure. More studies are required to fully understand the extent of the knowledge deficit in the wider population; however, these findings will allow nurses to address significant gaps.