Prevalence of Hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus among Haemodialysis Patients at Elobied Haemodialysis Unit –West Sudan

Background and Objectives: Hypertension and diabetes mellitus are major risk factors of end – stage renal disease (ESRD). This study aimed to determine the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus among haemodialysis patients at Elobeid haemodialysis unit.

Patients and Methods: The study was a single – centre cross - sectional study including 130 patients on chronic haemodialysis in Elobeid hospital haemodialysis unit. Each patient was personally interviewed by the co-author in the haemodialysis unit using a structured questionnaire prepared by the investigators. Data collected include: socioeconomic data (gender, age, residence, and occupation), history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, treatment of hypertension, treatment of diabetes mellitus, duration of hypertension, duration of diabetes mellitus and duration of dialysis. Hypertension was defined as blood pressure ≥ 140/90 or the use of antihypertensive medications. Diabetes mellitus is defined by use of insulin therapy. In this study both hypertension and diabetes mellitus were already diagnosed and on regular medications. Statistic package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20 was used for data analysis.

Results: One hundred and thirty patients were recruited. More than two thirds of patients were males with male to female ratio of 2.2: 1. Patient’s age ranged from 12 years to 90 years. The mean age was 46.3 ± 17.8 years. Forty (32%) patients were above 56 years of age. Ninety eight (75%) patients were hypertensive, the majority of hypertensive patients were males (90%). Eighty six hypertensive patients were on calcium channel blocker (88%). Amlodipine was the commonly used antihypertensive used. Twenty five (19%) patients were diabetics and all of them were males. All diabetic patients were also hypertensive. Fourteen diabetic patients (56%) were on insulin therapy, while 11 patients were using metformin.

Conclusion: The prevalence of hypertension among haemodialysis patients was high while the prevalence of diabetes is less than that reported globally. The blood pressure should be tidily controlled specially in diabetic patients and patients with impaired renal function. For early detection of chronic kidney disease and elevated blood pressure as a sequel, routine blood pressure measurement is highly recommended in adult patients attend the clinic for any reason.