Prevalence of Renal Osteodystrophy in African Hemodialysis Patients

Disturbances in mineral and bone metabolism are common in patients with chronic kidney disease and it increases with progression of renal insufficiency. Renal osteodystrophy (ROD) is a general term encompassing both high and low bone turnover forms of bone disease. The overall incidence of ROD in patients with advanced renal failure and those treated with maintenance hemodialysis (HD) is 90 to 100% (1). The nature and type of ROD varies from one patient to another and several factors may account for this variation (2). The two most commonly encountered types of ROD are: high turnover hyperparathyroid and low turnover ABD. Bone biopsy is the gold standard; however, serum levels of PTH are considered an adequate screening tool to separate these two diseases and it is associated to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality (2).