Clinical profile and complications seen in the patients in the later stages of chronic kidney disease presenting to the Emergency Department in a tertiary care center in Nepal: a cross-sectional study

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has an estimated prevalence of 6% in Nepal, which has resulted in a huge public health and socioeconomic burden for the country. People with different stages of CKD come to the Emergency Department (ED) with various clinical features and complications, which if detected and managed early can result in a decreased need for renal replacement therapy and thus decreased medical cost. The authors conducted a cross-sectional analysis taking nonprobability convenience sampling in the ED of a tertiary-level hospital of Nepal, after getting approval from the Institutional Review Committee and obtaining informed consent from the patient. Kruskal-Wallis test and test of homogeneity were conducted to determine if there were differences in the continuous variables and categorical variables of three stages of CKD. Pairwise comparisons with a Bonferroni correction was done for both variables. Among 291 patients of CKD, 25 were in stage 3, 15 in stage 4, and 251 in stage 5. Significant differences between groups were found in continuous variables of SBP, pulse, temp, TLC, platelet, sodium, potassium, urea, and creatinine. Similarly, a significant difference was found for the categorical variables of hyperkalemia, hyponatremia, thrombocytopenia, leukocytosis, and high creatinine levels. Patients with CKD commonly present to the ED due to electrolyte imbalances, uremia, shortness of breath, and high SBP. Hyperkalemia, thrombocytopenia are more frequently observed in stage 5 CKD, whereas the incidence of hypertension significantly increase from stage 4 onwards. Hyponatremia, on the other hand, is more prevalent in stage 3 than in the later stages.