Study design and setting
This was a hospital based cross sectional study conducted among CKD adult patients attending nephrology outpatient clinic at MNH from May to December 2019. MNH is the largest referral hospital in Tanzania, with bed capacity of 1500, it also serve as teaching hospital of Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS). MNH receives referral patients from both public and private hospitals from all over the country. The renal clinic at MNH operates once a week (on Wednesdays) receiving an average of 40 patients per clinic day.
Study Population and Sample size
All adult CKD patients aged 18 years and above attending renal clinic at MNH were eligible. Sample size for this study was calculated based on prevalence of CKD-MBD which is obtained from the study done by Mugera at Kenyatta National Hospital (2013), where prevalence was found to be 22.4% [32]. Leslie Kish formula was used to determine the sample size of the study participants where a minimum sample size of 300 participants was obtained.
Sampling method
Participants were identified using a systematic sampling technique, where the list of patients was obtained from the appointment book, creating a sampling frame. Sampling interval was obtained to be 3. The first person was randomly selected from the sampling frame between 1 to 3 and then every third patient was selected and screened for the inclusion and exclusion criteria to identify eligible individuals to be enrolled in the study and was included only once.
Data collection methods
Data was collected using an interviewer administered structured Clinical Research Form (CRF). Principal investigator and research assistants conducted face-to-face interviews and physical examination. Data collected included socio-demographic data, clinical history, duration and type of CKD treatment (conservative, dialysis or concomitant medications), duration of dialysis and type of diet. Results of laboratory tests including serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, calcium, phosphate, parathyroid hormone and albumin level were also recorded into the CRF.
The following values and units were used as the cut-offs values for measuring calcium, phosphate and parathyroid hormone levels:
- Serum calcium 2.2-2.6 mmol/l
- Serum phosphate 0.8-1.6 mmol/l
- Serum intact PTH 15-65 pg/ml for CKD stage 3-5 not on dialysis
- Serum intact PTH 130-585 pg/ml for CKD stage 5 on dialysis (2-9 times the upper limit of normal for the assay) [9].
Definition of terms
CKD-MBD: In this study, CKD-MBD was defined basing on the presence of abnormality of serum calcium, phosphate or parathyroid hormone levels [9].
Laboratory testing
About 5ml of blood was drawn from the cubital vein into sterile plain vacutainer tubes for serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, calcium, phosphate, parathyroid hormone and albumin level. The blood samples were immediately processed and if there was a delay, they were then stored at -20 degree Celsius until the time of processing. The measurements of serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, calcium, phosphate and albumin were determined using an automatic chemistry analyzer Biotecnica 3500 (BT3500) while serum intact parathyroid hormone levels were determined using electro-chemiluminescence immunoassay Maglumi800at MNH laboratory. The results were analyzed after daily calibration using standard calibration methods and materials and tests assayed against controls.
Total serum calcium was corrected for serum albumin using the equation:
Corrected serum calcium= measured serum calcium + 0.02 (40- Serum Albumin) [10].
The Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) was estimated using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) formula as follows [11]:
eGFR= 186 × (Serum Creatinine/88.4)-1.154 x (Age)-0.203 x [1.212 if Black] x [0.742 if Female].
Data management and analysis
Data was entered into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 23.0) for analysis. The prevalence of CKD-MBD was determined by taking the proportion of enrolled patients who have abnormalities of serum markers (calcium, phosphate or parathyroid hormone levels). Categorical variables were summarized as frequencies and percentages, and continuous variables as means and standard deviation. Categorical and continuous variables were compared with the chi-square and t-test, respectively. The association between the categorical independent variables and CKD-MBD was determined using univariate logistic regression. To control for confounding those factors with p ≤ 0.2 were subjected to a multivariate logistic regression. P-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.