JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Despite the growing burden of chronic kidney disease (CKD), disease knowledge and understanding are still lacking, especially in Bangladesh.

Objective:

The aim of the study was to evaluate the outcome of a health education intervention in order to enhance knowledge, health-related quality of life (QOL), and motivation about healthy life style among rural and peri-urban adults suffering from CKD.

Methods:

A parallel group (1:1) randomized controlled trial is ongoing in Mirzapur sub-district, Bangladesh comparing two groups of patients with CKD. Patients aged ≥ 18 years with CKD stages 1-3 were enrolled in November 2020. Patients were randomly allocated into either the intervention (n= 63) or control group (n= 63). The control group receives usual treatment, while the intervention group receives health education through a CKD campaign facilitated by a nephrologist and by mHealth (periodic mobile phone calls) from Community Health Workers. Both groups will be followed up for a period of 6 months. The primary endpoint is patients’ increased knowledge measured by using the CKD knowledge questionnaire; and the secondary endpoints are improved QOL measured using the standardized EuroQOL-5 dimensions-5-level questionnaire.

Results:

Enrollment of participants began in November 2020; and intervention and follow-up will be completed in May 2021. We enrolled 126 patients in the study; of them, the age in years (mean±SD) were 57.97±15.03 and 57.32±14.37 for the control and intervention group respectively. Among the study patients, the female was, n=45 (71.4%) in the control group and n=38 (60.3%) in the intervention group. In addition, literate patients for the control and intervention group were n=38 (60.3%) and n=33 (52.4%) respectively.

Conclusions:

It is expected that a combined approach such as a CKD campaign and mHealth for health education may be an effective tool for increasing knowledge and improving QOL. Clinical Trial: This study has been approved by Research Review Committee and Ethical Review Committee of icddr,b. Clinical Trial Registration # NCT04094831 and available online at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04094831.