Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is considered as a disease of civilization of the XXI century. The increase of patients with CKD is associated with a higher incidence of hypertension, diabetes and aging. Hypertension occurs in 60-90% of patients with CKD. It is worth to underline that the nephroprotective therapy can delay or even stop the progression of CKD to end-stage renal disease. The therapy nephroprotective should be understood as both pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the health awareness of patients with CKD, as well as the degree of patient compliance especially in terms of pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment.
Material and methods: A crosssectional survey was offered for 1300 patients with CKD who are are under the care of the Department of Nephrology, Transplantology and Internal Medicine, University Hospital in Gdansk. 972 patients (M/F) (74.8%) responded positively to participate in the study
Results: It was shown that 91.2% of the patients measured blood pressure at home. 41.2% measured blood pressure everyday and 54.2% of patients used at least one non-pharmacological treatment for hypertension. 71.7% of patients declared that buy all drugs prescribed by the doctor. 53.4% of patients used the possibility of substitution drugs prescribed by a doctor for cheaper preparations recommended by the pharmacist. 85.7% of patients taking medicines according to doctor’s advice (frequency, dose).
Conclusions: The results of the study indicate that the education of patients, the therapeutic process and their health awareness are good, especially among patients treated with peritoneal dialysis. It should be continued as educational program because these activities may contribute to improving the prognosis and quality of life. A patients after kidney transplantation are particularly vulnerable to the effects of failure to comply with recommendations.