Incidence, treatment patterns and clinical outcomes associated with acute kidney injury in Fiji: a retrospective cohort study.

AIM: This study aims to describe the incidence and outcomes of acute kidney injury at Fiji's tertiary referral hospital. METHODS: A retrospective study of adults aged ≥ 18 years hospitalised at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital between 1 January and 30 June, 2015 was conducted. Acute kidney injury was defined using the 2012 Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guidelines by medical record review. RESULTS: One hundred ten (2.1%) of 5140 hospitalised patients met the diagnostic criteria for acute kidney injury. Fifty-two cases (47%) of acute kidney injury were stage 1, 11 (10%) cases were stage 2, and 47 (43%) cases were stage 3. Acute sepsis (n = 68) and dehydrating illness (n = 52) were the most common causes. Thirty-nine patients had urinalysis and 36 received imaging; none underwent kidney biopsy. Treatment included antibiotics (n = 91), intravenous fluids (n = 84) and vasopressors (n = 25). Twenty-one (19%) patients were treated with intermittent haemodialysis. Forty-seven patients (43%) with acute kidney injury died including 16 (76%) dialysed patients. Crude mortality at 7 days was 19 (40%). Of the 63 patients who survived their primary illness, 29 (46%) had a follow-up assessment at 3 months. CONCLUSION: In patients needing hospitalisation for acute kidney injury in Fiji, the most common causes were sepsis and dehydration. Mortality was high, in particular in those who received dialysis. Follow-up after acute kidney injury is incomplete.

End-stage kidney disease in Fiji.

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease is now a leading cause of death in Fiji. The country lacks even basic statistics about the incidence of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) and presents significant challenges to conducting clinical research. AIM: To estimate the incidence and characteristics of ESKD in Fijian adults. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted of patients admitted to Colonial War Memorial Hospital in Suva, Fiji, in 2012. Suspected ESKD cases were identified from laboratory registers of renal function tests and confirmed through medical record review. Population data were from the Fijian Bureau of Statistics. RESULTS: Screening identified 1474 suspected ESKD cases. Following removal of 763 duplicates and cases with discrepant identifiers, 711 unique cases remained. An additional 552 cases met exclusion criteria, including acute kidney injury (247), failure to be admitted (131) and pre-existing ESKD diagnosis (103), leaving 159 cases of confirmed ESKD. Median age was 57 years (interquartile range 47-65). Crude and age-adjusted ESKD incidence rates were 753 per million population (pmp) (95% confidence interval (CI) 636-870) and 793 pmp (95% CI 669-916), respectively, rising to 938 pmp (95% CI 804-1072) if African-American correction was removed. Diabetic nephropathy was the most common cause of ESKD (65.4%). CONCLUSION: The incidence of ESKD in Fiji is high. This is a substantial public health problem that is likely impacting life expectancy and quality of life. Improving screening, detection and management of kidney disease should be given more prominence in programmes to address non-communicable diseases in Fiji and the Western Pacific.