Good management of chronic kidney disease craves for registration system: A case of a single center in China

Object: to demonstrate the necessity of establishing chronic kidney disease registration system by the case of Guangdong provincial hospital of Chinese medicine. Method: laboratory test results of serum creatinine level and routine urinalysis of all in-hospital patients in year 2012 were collected through the hospital´s information system. After excluding repeated test results, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of each patient was calculated. Patients with eGFR less than 60ml/min or with abnormal findings on routine urinalysis were included. Prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) was investigated. Besides, number of CKD patients admitted to nephrology department was compared with those who were admitted to other departments. Results: there were 58683 cases of hospitalized patients who took the test of serum creatinine level and urinalysis in the year 2012. 20941 cases were diagnosed as CKD. Prevalence of CKD in Guangdong provincial hospital of Chinese medicine was 35.7%. The proportion of CKD patients receiving medical treatment in nephrology department was 22.2%. It occupied 11.4%, 13.2%, 16.8%, 66.0% and 90.8% of the total amount of CKD population of each stage from stage one to five respectively. Among other departments, top five departments with the largest number of CKD patients were emergency, breast, cardiovascular, urology and general departments. Conclusions: prevalence of CKD in Guangdong provincial hospital of Chinese medicine was high while the ratio of patients receiving nephrology specialized treatment was extremely low. This situation was contrary to the recommendation of early specialist intervention in CKD population. In order to achieve better management and improve prognosis, chronic kidney disease registration system was in great need.