Pathological Pulmonary Manifestations in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis

Abstract

Provenance of chronic kidney diseases is much more common in these days especially in patients suffering from secondary causes like diabetes mellitus and hypertension. Objective: To study the prevalence of pathological pulmonary manifestations in chronic kidney diseases patients. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was done to examine the spectrum of pulmonary manifestations and any significant correlation with raised serum urea and creatinine level in patients on hemodialysis at various dialyzing units in Abbottabad for chronic kidney diseases. 200 patients with end-stage renal diseases were selected with convenience sampling for study with complaints of breathlessness, cough or chest discomfort. Evidence of pulmonary manifestations was gathered from histopathological and radiological reports records. Results: The most common findings in the acute phase of the patients were pneumonia 30% and 14% in males and females respectively. Pleural effusion was 20% prevalent in males while 6% in females. Empyema was 7% in males and 2% in females. Lung abscess and fibrosis was less common in patients suffering from chronic kidney disease. Spearmen rho results showed significant two tailed correlations between pulmonary manifestations and raised level of serum urea and creatinine levels.  In most patients, co-morbidities such as diabetes mellitus and chronic hypertension, urolithiasis were evident as co-factors with significant raised urea and creatinine levels responsible for chronic kidney diseases. Conclusions: Pulmonary manifestations are common in patients on hemodialysis due to chronic kidney disease and strong correlation exists between raised serum urea and creatinine markers with pulmonary manifestations.