Screening for asymptomatic kidney disease in high-risk population of Urmia, Iran

INTRODUCTION. Screening programs for chronic kidney disease (CKD) are deemed to be cost effective only when they are limited to high-risk groups. We screened a sample of high-risk population of Urima, Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS. As a pilot study for a national project, we enrolled 905 participants who had at least one risk factor for CKD (including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, or a family history of CKD). The study population was selected from among patients with Dm or hypertension and family members of those with CKD in Urima urban area and 2 randomly selected neighbor rural areas. Urine dipstick tests were done and blood sample was obtained to detect proteinuria and measure serum creatinine concentration, respectively. RESULTS. A total of 607 participants (67.1%) were enrolled from rural areas and 298 (32.9%) from the urban area. The mean serum creatinine level was 1.27 ± 0.60 mg/dL. A high serum creatinine level was demonstrated in 343 participants (37.9%), and 212 (23.4%) were demonstrated to have proteinuria. There was a significant correlation between serum creatinine level and urinary protein excretion (P = .001). There were no significant differences between rural and urban subgroups in terms of proteinuria (P = .42) and serum creatinine level (P = .08). CONCLUSIONS. The prevalence of a high creatinine level (37.9%) is so high in the high-risk population of Urmia. Our most important goal of implementing this preliminary study was to assess probable limitations and problems of performing an extensive national screening program for CKD in the future.