Prevalence and Geographic Distribution of Self-Reported Chronic Kidney Disease and Potential Risk Factors in Central America

Erika Figueroa-Solis (), David Gimeno Ruiz de Porras, Marianela Rojas-Garbanzo, Lawrence Whitehead, Kai Zhang and George L. Delclos
Additional contact information
Erika Figueroa-Solis: Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health, Houston, TX 77030, USA
David Gimeno Ruiz de Porras: Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health, Houston, TX 77030, USA
Marianela Rojas-Garbanzo: Instituto Regional de Estudios en Sustancias Tóxicas (IRET), National University of Costa Rica, Heredia 40101, Costa Rica
Lawrence Whitehead: Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health, Houston, TX 77030, USA
Kai Zhang: Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY 12144, USA
George L. Delclos: Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics and Environmental Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health, Houston, TX 77030, USA

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 2, 1-14

Abstract: Background: Cases for chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) are increasing in specific disease hotspots located in rural agricultural communities over Central America. The goal of the study was to estimate the prevalence and geographic distribution of self-reported work-related CKD and associated risk factors for CKDu by industry sector in Central America. Methods: We calculated the prevalence and distribution of self-reported CKD, work-related CKD, and suspected CKDu risk factors among the 9032 workers in the Second Central American Survey of Working Conditions and Health (II ECCTS, 2018). We mapped the distribution of suspected CKDu risk factors to work-related CKDu and weather conditions using average annual temperatures. Results: The primary and secondary industry sectors showed the highest proportion of males, suspected CKDu risk factors, and work-related CKD. Age (30–49 years: OR = 2.38, 95% CI 1.03–5.51), ethnicity (mestizo: OR, 7.44, 95% CI: 2.14–25.82), and exposure to high physical work demands (OR = 2.45, 95% CI: 1.18–5.09) were associated with work-related CKD. The majority of work-related CKD were reported in the western parts of Honduras and Nicaragua, in hot temperature regions, and overlapped with those areas with a high density of CKDu risk factors. Finally, some areas clustered CKDu risk factors without any work-related CKD points, mainly in the western part of Guatemala. Conclusion: Our findings supplement prior CKDu findings regarding a high prevalence of work-related CKD among 30- to 49-year-old mestizo males in the primary and secondary sectors, in hot temperature areas, in the central and western region, and overlapping with persons reporting two or more CKDu risk factors. Moreover, several geographic areas with CKDu risk factor clusters had no reported work-related CKD. These areas represent new industries and sectors to be monitored for possible future increases of CKDu cases.

Keywords: chronic kidney disease (CKD) of undetermined origin; workers; industry sector; temperature (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1308/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/2/1308/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:2:p:1308-:d:1031830

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().