March 5, 2019

World Kidney Day is observed this year on 14 March to raise awareness about kidney disease and press for the implementation of advanced methods towards kidney disease prevention and management. According to the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), 750 people in Singapore are diagnosed with renal failure yearly. There is a rising occurrence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) among the elderly population. Witnessing a 6% increase from 1999, 22% of patients dialyzing in NKF centres in 2002 were over the age of 65. Worryingly, studies revealed that even with dialysis provision, treatment outcomes such as mortality, quality of life, or hospitalization of renal patients have not always been positive.

In ‘Poor Hemodialysis Outcome Identifying Social Risk Factors in Elderly and Non-elderly Patients in Singapore’, co-authors Ms Rachel Ang, Associate Professor Hyekyung Choo, and Senior Lecturer Rosaleen Ow (all from NUS Social Work) examine the demographic and socioeconomic factors affecting dialysis patients’ hospitalization outcomes to identify social risk factors for hospitalization between elderly and non-elderly renal patients. They analysed the medical data records of 319 renal patients in National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Singapore, gathering their socio-demographic characteristics and additional social factors such as their gender, race/ethnicity, employment status and income, and marital status and kinship network.

Surprisingly, results revealed that elderly renal patients do not have a significantly worse treatment outcome as compared to non-elderly patients, and the authors attributed their larger kinship network size as beneficial to their recovery process. The elderly’s risk profile is also less complicated, and high medical dependency was identified as the factor that increases the risk of elderly hospitalization regardless of their socioeconomic background. Conversely, the risk factors for non-elderly patients are a complex interplay of demographic, socioeconomic, and medical causes. Consistent with previous studies among non-elderly patients, females were discovered to have a higher risk of hospitalization than males, possibly due to their poorer ability to deal with stressors. Specifically, the risk factors identified for non-elderly patients from the study were being female, being non-Chinese, being Muslim, not working, being single, having fewer total family members, having fewer immediate family members, having fewer children, having more dependents, and high medical dependency. Ultimately, the study helps health and social workers identify potentially vulnerable patients to provide appropriate support for them.

Read the article here.