Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Concerning COVID-19 in Nepal.

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) severely affects patients with chronic diseases. Adequate knowledge, attitudes, and practice related to COVID-19 is associated with decrease morbidity and mortality. Therefore, this aimed to assess knowledge, attitudes, and practice toward COVID-19 disease among chronic diseases patients visiting tertiary hospitals in Kathmandu. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among chronic disease patients who visited Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital and Manmohan Cardiothoracic Vascular and Transplant Center, Kathmandu. Structured questionnaire was used to collect patients' socio-demographic data and perspectives on COVID-19. RESULTS: Four hundred chronic disease patients participated in the study, with 53.2% female and 46.8% male, and 56.8% of age ≥50 years. Overall, 55.5% of the participants had good knowledge, 56.2% had good practice, and 30.7% had positive attitude towards COVID-19. Younger patients, 18-34 years, were found to have higher odds of having good knowledge compared to other age groups (aOR: 2.5; 95% CI: 1.3-6.0). The patients with less than average family income and those unable to read and write had lower odds of having positive attitude towards COVID-19 (aOR: 0.6; 95% CI: 0.4-0.9 and aOR: 0.4; 95%CI: 0.2-0.9, respectively). A statistically significant correlation was found between the patients' knowledge and practice, knowledge and attitude, and attitude and practice (p <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Nearly half of the chronic disease patients in Nepal had poor knowledge and practice whereas more than two-third had negative attitude towards COVID-19 disease. Older age of the patient was significantly associated with poor knowledge and practice.

Health related quality of life among haemodialysis and kidney transplant recipients from Nepal: a cross sectional study using WHOQOL-BREF.

BACKGROUND: Very less is known about health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among patients with kidney diseases in Nepal. This study examined HRQOL among haemodialysis and kidney transplant recipients in Nepal. METHODS: The Nepali version of World Health Organization Quality of Life Instruments -(WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire was administered using face to face interviews among end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients, from two large national referral centers in Nepal. The differences in socio-demographic characteristics among ESRD patients were examined using the Chi-square test. The group differences in quality of life (QOL) were examined using the Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis tests. RESULTS: Of the 161 participants, 92 (57.1%) were renal transplant recipients and 69 (42.9%) patients were on maintenance haemodialysis. Hypertension (70.9%) was the most common co-morbidity among ESRD patients. Haemodialysis patients scored significantly lower than the transplant recipients in all four domains as well as in overall perception of quality of life and general health. Ethnicity (p = 0.020), socio-economic status (p < 0.001), educational status (p < 0.001) and employment status (p = 0.009) were significantly associated with the overall QOL in ESRD patients. Across patient groups, educational status (p = 0.012) was positively associated with QOL in dialysis patients, while urban residence (p = 0.023), higher socio-economic status (p < 0.001), higher educational status (p = 0.004) and diabetes status (p = 0.010) were significantly associated with better QOL in transplant recipients. CONCLUSION: The overall QOL of the renal transplant recipients was higher than that of the patients on maintenance haemodialysis; this was true in all four domains of the WHOQOL-BREF. ESRD patients with low HRQOL could benefit from targeted risk modification intervention.