High prevalence of sleep disorders at the time of CKD diagnosis

OBJECTIVE: Sleep disorders are very common in adult and children on maintenance hemodialysis and are not cured by renal transplantation. SETTING/DESIGN: Studies in our laboratory of patients with a mean plasma creatinine concentration of 2 mg/dL, studied within 2 months of chronic kidney disease (CKD) diagnosis, have detected a high prevalence of sleep disorders that could not be explained by using the factors prevalent in hemodialysis patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: To understand if the intrusiveness of the disease is a cause for the high prevalence of sleep disorders in early CKD, we have assessed, by means of a questionnaire, sleep disorders within 1 month from the diagnosis of renal dysfunction. RESULTS: A total of 100 CKD patients with a mean estimated creatinine clearance of 59.1 +/- 26.7 mL/min were studied. The prevalence of sleep disorders was 89%. CONCLUSION: We believe this high prevalence might represent the effects of disease's intrusiveness and difficulty in coping with the disease.