Chronic kidney disease puts hospitalised patients at high risk of potential lapses in patient safety. Researchers from America studied 2,50,000 patients to assess the degree of risk faced by the patients with chronic kidney disease. Patients were divided into groups on the basis of age, gender, race and other diseases present. The outcomes of the study included 13 patient safety indicators to analyse the patients admitted in the hospital. Chronic kidney disease was associated with a number of conditions, such as, anaemia and infection, which raises the risk of medical complications. Impaired kidney function also makes these patients more susceptible to toxic effects of medicines. It was found that 29 percent of the patients had chronic kidney disease and they had a 19 percent higher risk of developing complications. As for complications following surgery were concerned, they were up to five times more likely to experience problems than their peers with normally functioning kidneys. During any acute hospitalisation, patients with chronic kidney disease were significantly more likely to die from a condition considered to have a low mortality risk and to develop an infection as a result of medical care. The researchers concluded that hospitalised patients with chronic kidney disease were at high risk for adverse safety events, measured under established patient safety indicators. One of the most important factors affecting patient safety was failure to recognise chronic kidney disease. Therefore, further investigations are needed to develop and test interventions to reduce this risk.
Journal of the American Society of Nephrology
September 2008