Introduction
Health literacy has come to be used to refer to an individual’s capacity
to understand health information and catch up in the healthcare process.
Low health literacy among the population is associated with deteriorated
health outcomes (1). Awareness of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) includes
general knowledge, risk factors, and consequences owing to CKD (2). CKD
defined as an estimated or measured glomerular filtration rate (GFR)
< 60 mL/min/1.73m2 that persists for ≥three months with or
without evidence of kidney damage or evidence of kidney damage with or
without decreased GFR (3).
Early identification and management of CKD can reduce undesired outcomes
related to the disease. However, nearly all CKD conditions were not
clinically familiar primarily because of the poor public awareness about
the disease (4). Limited general knowledge of the particular disease is
an obstacle to the successful implementation of prevention programs (5).
In 676 patients with CKD, more than 1/3rd of patients claim to know
little about their CKD diagnosis, and nearly half reported that they did
not know of treatment alternatives if their kidneys failed (6). In
Ethiopia, there is a shift from infectious disease into non-communicable
chronic disease in the past few decades (7).
The causes of CKD differ worldwide. Poor glycemic control, uncontrolled
hypertension, nephrotoxins drugs, and smoking are recognized as the
leading risk factors of CKD (8,9). Between 1990 and 2010, the spread of
CKD moved up to significant lists of causes of global death, from 29th
to 18th (10). A large Chinese study found a 10.8% prevalence of CKD.
Hence only 12.5% of them knew about their disease (11).
There is a consensus that CKD prevention is the best health policy
alternative for decreasing the costs associated with a better health
outcome of this disease, particularly in developing countries with
limited healthcare resources (12). Therefore, creating awareness about
CKD and its risk factors among the public is generating considerable
interest in terms of strategies for CKD prevention. Whereas, limited
knowledge about the disease and possible risk factors set to become a
vital factor in prevention strategies with limited or poor
effectiveness, causing financial burden in the health care system, poor
clinical outcome including progressing to advanced stage of the disease.
Information about public knowledge of CKD is crucial to understand the
information gap and planning several educational interventions. However,
previous work in Ethiopia has only focused on aspects of CKD prevention
and failed to address public knowledge. Therefore, this cross-sectional
study was conducted to seek to answer the fallacy areas in the
population by evaluating public awareness. The findings of this study
will assist in identifying knowledge gaps, preparing educational
sessions, facilitating screening programs among the society, and
preventing the occurrence of CKD. Therefore, the current study aimed at
assessing the public knowledge of CKD by using a validated tool.