Prevalence and Burden of Chronic Kidney Disease in Developing Countries: A Review

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is becoming more widely accepted as a public health issue around the world. However, there is a scarcity of data from low- and middle-income countries on the prevalence, challenges, and management of CKD. People in developed countries are expected to bear the impact of the consequences due to economic hardship and high treatment costs. Due to numerous environmental, racial, socioeconomic, and rural-urban variations, the prevalence of CKD varies greatly around the world. Rather than hypothesizing or making assumptions based on Western evidence, it is critical for developing countries to recognize the true nature of the disease and its prevalence. Understanding the situation in a developing country like Pakistan is important so that recommendations can be made for policymakers to revamp our health care system. Just a few studies have looked into the prevalence of CKD and its risk factors in Pakistan.

Objectives: To determine the importance of finding prevalence of CKD in countries of South Asia and challenges that are being faced by the burden of CKD.

Methods: A literature search was done using key words related to CKD burden, its challenges and prevalence accordingly to geographical locations conducted by various case reports, cohort and observational studies through authentic search engines like; PubMed, Google Scholar, Research gate, RCT and meta-analysis.

Results: CKD burden in middle and low-income countries is high, prevalence of CKD in Karachi, the biggest urban city of Pakistan is very high and there are less researches available who have looked into the prevalence of CKD and it’s risk factors.

Conclusion: There are few studies done in Pakistan related to the burden of chronic kidney disease, the prevalence of CKD is high in lower and middle-income countries. It is recommended that there should be a systematic approach for the management of CKD burden with successful intervention and public awareness for lifestyle changes and screening and management of disease, as well as better medical practitioner training and improved chronic kidney disease testing and screening systems should be available.