Health Literacy on Chronic Kidney Disease among Adults of Morang, Eastern Nepal

Abstract

Background Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a rapidly increasing health problem worldwide. Early diagnosis is possible with adequate health literacy. Unfortunately, majority of the CKD patients are diagnosed in the last stage which is the major challenge in the developing countries like Nepal. Thus, the researchers designed this study to find out the chronic kidney disease related health literacy among adults of Eastern Nepal. Methods A quantitative analytical cross-sectional study design with multi-stage sampling was used. One ward from each of one metropolitan, one urban and one rural municipality were selected randomly. And in the fourth stage, population proportionate samples, one sample from a household, were selected to meet the total sample size of 414. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire with high internal consistency reliability of 0.84. Face-to-face interview was done after the ethical approval from Nepal Health Research Council, Nepal (Ref. No. 2162). Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.00. Descriptive and inferential i.e. regression analysis were used. Results The mean age and standard deviation of adults was 41.8014 ± 13.49 years respectively. About two-third (63.1%) were female, 86.5% married, 94.6% Hindu and 46.3% illiterate. One-fifth had habit of alcohol consumption and tobacco use. The median score for health literacy on CKD was 18 and there was no statistical difference in scores of adults residing in Sundarharaincha, Katahari and Biratnagar. More than half (54.1%) of the adults surveyed had low level of health literacy on CKD. Age, secondary and above education, alcohol consumption and tobacco use were found to be associated with health literacy during bivariate analysis. Similarly, the multivariate regression analysis showed that age (AOR 1.016, CI 0.970–0.998), education (AOR 3.17, CI 0.241–0.494) and tobacco use (AOR 2.079, CI 0.253–0.914) had statistically significant association as predictors of CKD health literacy. Conclusion Adults of Morang, Eastern Nepal had low level of health literacy on CKD. Implementing health awareness, disease screening and tobacco control programs by local governments local governments could contribute in early diagnosis and complication prevention of CKD in Morang.