Screening, prevalence, and burden of chronic kidney disease in people with type 2 diabetes managed by endocrinologists: A nationwide cross-sectional study.

AIMS: To describe and characterize chronic kidney disease (CKD) prevalence, screening practices and associated burden on people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) managed by endocrinologists.

METHODS

Observational study, using secondary data from electronic health records (EHRs) (Telotron® database), with cross-sectional analysis at index date 30th November 2023. The study population included people with T2D who had at least one visit with an endocrinologist at the time of or after T2D diagnosis. CKD was defined by CKD diagnosis code or one estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) value < 60 ml/min/1.73 m2 or one urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) value ≥ 30 mg/g.

RESULTS

Among 19,709 individuals with T2D, CKD prevalence was 40.7%, yet 54% of patients with CKD did not have a CKD diagnosis code. 56.5% of the T2D population did not have any registered UACR value in the year prior to the index date. People with T2D and CKD presented high prevalence of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and heart failure, and high rates of medication use.

CONCLUSIONS

CKD was highly prevalent in people with T2D managed by endocrinologists. Despite the high presence of comorbidities and medication use, we observed an important lack of screening and proper CKD identification.