Acute kidney injury in Latin America: a view on renal replacement therapy resources

Abstract

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) has increasingly been recognized as an important public health issue due to its rising frequency, its associations with early and late adverse outcomes and its economic burden.

Methods: Given the importance of determining the available resources to address this serious issue, the AKI Committee of SLANH conducted a survey to obtain information about infrastructure, human resources and equipment devoted to the treatment of AKI in Latin America

Results: A total of 246 units from 14 countries participated in the survey, the majority of them pertaining to nephrology divisions in teaching hospitals. Intermittent hemodialysis was universally performed by all of the units, and less frequently, slow extended dialysis (40%) and continuous renal replacement therapy (23%) were performed. Seventy-nine units (30%) perform peritoneal dialysis, but only 51 (19%) of them reported having treated at least 1 patient with this technique in the last 3 months pre-survey. The vast majority of the units reported adequate water treatment and use of modern filter membranes. Most of the patients received renal replacement therapy (RRT) in the intensive care unit. Specific causes of AKI were reported in different frequencies, with a heterogeneous pattern among the countries. Septic abortion, hemolytic-uremic syndrome, community-acquired diarrhea and leptospirosis were the etiologies most frequently associated with AKI.

Conclusions: To our knowledge, this report was the first available study of the equipment and human resources utilized for RRT in AKI patients in Latin America.

Keywords: Latin America; acute kidney injury; developing world; epidemiology; renal replacement.