Background and objective: There are approximately two million patients suffering from end stage renal disease (ESRD) worldwide requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT) in the form of dialysis. There are very few statistics regarding the knowledge and attitude towards dialysis among ESRD patients in Bangladesh. The present study was undertaken to understand the existing knowledge of the patients with ESRD regarding dialysis.

Methods: This cross sectional descriptive study was done on 104 patients with ESRD requiring immediate dialysis. This study was conducted in the department of Nephrology, BIRDEM General Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh over a period of six months. After obtaining informed consent the participants were given a self-administered questionnaire that included questions on socio-demographic status, age, gender, different aspects of knowledge about dialysis and the reasons to accept and refuse dialysis for the treatment of ESRD.

Results: A total of 104 patients with ESRD were enrolled in the study.  The mean age was 54.20(±11.82) years, 87.5% were more than 40 years of age, and 72.1% were male. Eighty two percent mentioned diabetes as the cause of kidney disease. About half of the respondents (52.88%) knew dialysis as an option for the treatment of ESRD followed by kidney transplant (11.54%). A few (7.3%) mentioned medicine and dietary modification as the treatment. There was no statistical association between prior knowledge and agreeing to do dialysis (χ²= 0.7814; p=0.376699). Most of the patients (78%) gathered knowledge about dialysis from doctors. Seventy two patients (69.2%) agreed to do dialysis. Among them 37 patients (51.4%) agreed as they considered it as a part of treatment and 32 patients (44.4%) agreed because they were advised by doctors. Reasons for refusal to do dialysis were - fear of death (59.37%), financial constraints (31.25%) and lack of availability of dialysis centre (9.37%) Among study populations, only 20 patients (19.2%) mentioned about peritoneal dialysis (PD) and all of them (100%) were informed by doctors.

Conclusion: The present study has demonstrated that prior knowledge on dialysis has no influence on the decision to do dialysis for the treatment of ESRD. Availability and access to dialysis facility and counseling on beneficial aspects of dialysis is required to motivate the patients for dialysis with ESRD.  In addition to health care providers, social media may play an important role in promoting public awareness regarding dialysis as a treatment modality of ESRD.

IMC J Med Sci 2017; 11(1): 11-14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3329/imcjms.v11i1.31932