Abstract
Aim : Awareness of chronic kidney disease (CKD) includes general
knowledge of CKD and its risk factors. The current study aimed at
assessing the public knowledge of CKD by using a validated tool.
Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted.
The target population of this study was lay public, and health
professionals were excluded from the study. Proportional numbers of
study participants were included from each sub-city based on their total
population size. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 21.
Frequencies, table’s percentage, mean and standard deviation were used
to describe participants’ responses: Independent T-test and one way
ANOVA statics was used to identify factors associated with public
knowledge of CKD.
Results: A total of 350 individuals were approached, 301 of
whom completed and returned the questionnaire, giving a response rate of
86%. In this study, the mean (S.D.) knowledge score of participants was
11.12 (±4.21), with a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 22. Concerning the
distribution of the CKD knowledge score, half of the respondents score
11 and less. One way ANOVA revealed that educational level had a
significant effect on knowledge of CKD. Respondents who had an
educational background of degree had relatively higher knowledge scores
than the other category participants (P-value = 0.015). An
independent t-test was also performed but failed to reveal any
association between socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge
score.
Conclusions : The general knowledge level of the Ethiopian
population about CKD and its risk factors is low. Currently,
non-communicable disease such as diabetes and hypertension becomes
public health concern and are one of the significant risk factors for
CKD. As the study indicated, even these groups of populations were not
adequately informed regarding their increased risk of developing CKD.