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

摘要

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%) participants. Diarrhea (47%), constipation (38.6%), vomiting (38.6%), anorexia (33.7%) and nausea (31.3%) were the main GIS observed. The presence of hypertension was the only association with the GIS (p = 0.02). We did not find any association between GIS and age, gender, diabetes mellitus, psychiatric disorders and duration in dialysis (all p > 0.1). Conclusion: We reported a high prevalence of GIS in this mainly young adult population. This could be related to their under-dialysis status and suggest the increased frequency of dialysis session in this setting.