Renal Replacement Therapy in a Caribbean Population: The Impact of Biological, Sociocultural and Demographic Factors

Background: The options for renal replacement therapy for end stage renal disease include haemodialysis (HD), peritoneal dialysis (PD) and renal transplantation. In this study demographic, sociocultural and biological factors were assessed over a 1-year period for patients on renal replacement therapy. Methods: This cross-sectional study included all patients 18 years and older and on renal replacement therapy for at least 3 months in Trinidad and Tobago. Five hundred and thirty participants were recruited from our organ transplantation unit, all centres facilitating PD and a stratified random sample of all HD centres (100 T, 80 PD, 350 HD from October 2015 to October 2016. A questionnaire was administered and included demographics, knowledge and understanding and biological factors impacting on renal replacement therapy. Results: Thirty eight percent of all patients were between 56 to 65 years of age. The Indo Trinidadian population accounted for 51% of the subjects. 52.5% were male and 47.5% were female. From the data, 72% of patients were diabetic and/or hypertensive. In the transplant recipients, 39% were diabetic and/or hypertensive and 27% reported chronic glomerulonephritis as the aetiology of their kidney failure. The diagnosis of chronic kidney disease was made when patients were at end stage renal disease requiring intervention in 84.2% of persons. The employed population of patients constituted 65% of renal transplant recipients, 43.75% of peritoneal dialysis patients and 22.86% of haemodialysis patients. The patient’s physician had the greatest influence on renal replacement therapy choice (85.4% haemodialysis, 85% peritoneal dialysis, 71% transplant). Conclusions: In this cohort of 530 patients on renal replacement therapy, knowledge of therapy and physician’s influence were some of the factors that impacted on choice of therapy. Most patients were already de novo end stage renal disease when the diagnosis of kidney disease was made. Lifestyle diseases-type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension were the main causative diseases contributing to renal failure. This study which is the first in the Caribbean to evaluate biological, sociocultural and demographic factors in patients receiving renal replacement will better assist in prevention strategies and resource allocation.