ABSTRACT
End stage renal disease is a major public health problem in the French Departments of Guadeloupe and Guiana because of the high prevalence of both type 2 diabetes and hypertension. We investigated factors associated with an emergency start of dialysis, 3 months' quality of life for patients starting a first replacement therapy in Guadeloupe and French Guiana using the data of the Réseau épidémiologie et information en néphrologie network, completed with data from the quality of life questionnaires SF-36 and KDQoL. A total of 242 patients (184 in Guadeloupe and 58 in Guiana) were included. An emergency start was found for 112 (46.5%) patients (Guiana: 74.1%; Guadeloupe: 37.7%). In the multivariate model, an emergency start was associated with the number of nephrology consultations in the year before dialysis and the creation of an arteriovenous fistula prior to the first dialysis. The quality of life scores did not differ between the groups emergency start or not but were higher than those measured in mainland French studies on dialyzed population. Lack of nephrology consultations and dialysis preparation are the main factors associated with an emergency start of the first dialysis, highlighting the need to adapt the provision of care for chronic kidney disease in these departments.
