Prevalence and Determinants of Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Adults on Maintenance Hemodialysis in Cameroon

Abstract

Introduction: Gastrointestinal symptoms (GIS) are common in patients on maintenance hemodialysis and constitute an important cause of morbidity. Objectives: To determine the prevalence of GIS and identify their determinants in adults on maintenance hemodialysis in Cameroon. Patients and Methods: This hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted from January to May 2017 at the Yaounde University Teaching Hospital dialysis center. All conscious consenting adults' patients who provided a written informed consent and have been on hemodialysis for more than three months with an arterio-venous fistula were recruited. All chronic hemodialysis patients of the center dialyze 4 hours twice a week. All patients with dementia were excluded. We collected demographic, clinical, and paraclinical data and used Rome IV modified GIS rating scale. Parametric and non-parametric tests were used to compare variables. Results: We included 83 (72.3% males) participants with a mean (SD) age of 50 (12) years. Hypertension (31.3%), chronic glomerulonephritis (26.5%) and diabetes mellitus (20.5%) were the leading baseline nephropathy. There were 31 (37.3%) participants with psychiatric disorders including anxiety (45.2%) and depression (54.8%). The biological abnormalities were increased parathormone (20.5%), hypocalcemia (24.1%), hyperphosphatemia (32.5%), increased C-reactive protein (46.4%) and anemia (68.7%). The GIS was reported in 73 (87.9%

Evaluation of Bleeding Risk by Hemostatic Parameters in Hemodialysis at the Douala General Hospital: Comparison between Patients on Hemodialysis before 3 Months and after 12 Months

“…Thrombocytopenia was frequent in our study and HD patients of more than 12 months had an increased risk of 6.6 compared to HD patients of less than 3 months. Kaze and al, in Cameroon found thrombocytopenia in 24% of non-dialysis chronic kidneydisease (CKD) patients [5]. Gäckler and al in Germany also noted thrombocytopenia in 30% of ESKD patients [6].…”