Health Literacy And Treatment Compliance Among Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease Attending A Nephrology Outpatient Department And Dialysis Center In Lahore, Pakistan: An Analytical Cross-Sectional Study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61919/jhrr.v6i6.2017Keywords:
Chronic kidney disease; health literacy; treatment compliance; treatment adherence; hemodialysis; Pakistan; patient education.Abstract
Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) requires continuous self-management, including medication adherence, dietary and fluid restriction, follow-up care, and dialysis-related practices where applicable. Health literacy may influence patients’ ability to understand CKD-related information and follow treatment recommendations, but local evidence from Pakistan remains limited. Objective: To assess health literacy, CKD awareness, treatment compliance, treatment adherence, and selected clinical burden indicators among dialysis and non-dialysis CKD patients attending nephrology care in Lahore, Pakistan. Methods: A hospital-based analytical cross-sectional study was conducted among 256 adult CKD patients attending the nephrology outpatient department and dialysis center of Sheikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore. Participants were selected using non-probability consecutive sampling. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire/interview covering sociodemographic characteristics, clinical profile, health literacy, treatment compliance, treatment adherence, and barriers to compliance. Descriptive statistics were reported as frequencies and percentages. Results: Among 256 CKD patients, 115 (45.1%) had inadequate health literacy and 129 (50.3%) were unaware of CKD symptoms. Good treatment compliance was observed in 56 patients (21.8%), whereas 200 (78.2%) had poor or suboptimal compliance. Poor treatment adherence was reported in 148 patients (58.0%). Anemia was present in 202 CKD patients (78.7%), while anemia among dialysis patients was reported in 242 patients (94.7%). Six-month mortality was observed in 29 patients (11.4%). Conclusion: CKD patients in this hospital-based population showed substantial gaps in health literacy and CKD awareness, with high frequencies of poor compliance, poor adherence, anemia, and mortality. Structured, culturally appropriate, and family-centered patient education should be integrated into nephrology outpatient and dialysis care. Further inferential analysis using individual-level data is required to confirm the association between health literacy and treatment compliance.
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