PREVALENCE AND FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH LATE REFERRAL TO NETHROLOGIST IN CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE PATIENTS

This cross-sectional study was conducted to idenhfy the prevalence of late referral to nephrologists and the characteristics of factors related to timing of referral among the chronic kidney patients. These patients were on initiation of haemodialysis between 1st January 2008 and 31st December 2008 (96 cases). The collecting form was used for collecting the data. The statistics for analysing all data were frequency and chi-square test. The prevalence of late referral to nephrologist in this study is 52.1%. Most of them were referred in a period of 1-6 months before having haemodialysis. The majority of respondents in this study were more than 60 years old 43.8%. 51% of respondents were female, two-thirds were manied and 44.8% had below high school education level. h o s t 44.8% received government reimbursement. Factors affecting late referral are marital status (p-value = 0.043), perception of haemodialysis (p-value = 0.003), fear of haemodialysis (p-value = 0.014) and the distance to access the service (p-value = 0.0 14). Promoting education, awareness and information about haemodialysis will decrease late referral problems singficantly. Moreover health care providers should be able to provide answers, proper administrative issues and appropriate referrals to patients afflicted with renal disease, guiding them to seek the best renal care available.