Abstract
In recent years, the number of hemodialysis (HD) patients has increased in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. End-stage renal disease (ESRD) is associated with increased rates of hospital admission, morbidity, and mortality. Globally, the most common causes of ESRD are diabetic nephropathy, hypertension, glomerulonephritis, infections, and chronic obstruction. However, very limited data have been presented regarding the etiology of ESRD in Saudi Arabia, especially in Makkah City. Therefore, this crosssectional study is designed to determine the underlying etiologies of ESRD in hemodialysis patients. The study was conducted among 306 patients who were recruited from Makkah hospitals and HD centers. The obtained data showed that diabetes was the most common cause of ESRD (34.3%), followed by hypertension (20.9%), drug misuse (12.1%), hereditary conditions (10.1%), urinary tract obstruction, and urinary retention (9.8%), unknown reason (8.2%), and chronic inflammation of the kidneys (3.3%). In conclusion, this study highlights the most important factors contributing to ESRD in the Makkah region. Thus, national campaigns should be performed to increase awareness about these factors and to possibly reduce the incidence of the disease. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by IASE. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).