toxins Review Chronic Kidney Disease-Associated Pruritus Puneet Agarwal 1 , Vinita Garg 2, Priyanka Karagaiah 3, Jacek C. Szepietowski 4 , Stephan Grabbe 5 and Mohamad Goldust 5,* 1 Department of Dermatology, SMS Medical College and Hospital, Jaipur 302004, Rajasthan, India;
[email protected] 2 Consultant Nephrologist, MetroMas Hospital, Jaipur 302020, Rajasthan, India;
[email protected] 3 Department of Dermatology, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, Bangalore 560002, Karnataka, India;
[email protected] 4 Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Wroclaw Medical University, 50-367 Wroclaw, Poland;
[email protected] 5 Department of Dermatology, University Medical Center Mainz, Langenbeckstraße 1, 55131 Mainz, Germany;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: Pruritus is a distressing condition associated with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD), as well as maintenance dialysis and adversely affects the quality of life (QOL) of these patients. It has been reported to range from 20% to as high as 90%. The mechanism of CKD-associated pruritus (CKD-aP) has not been clearly identified, and many theories have been proposed to explain it. Many risk factors have been found to be associated with CKD-aP. The pruritus in CKD presents with diverse clinical features, and there are no set features to diagnose it.The patients with CKD-aP are mainly treated by nephrologists, primary care doctors, and dermatologists. Many treatments have been tried but nothing has been effective. The search of literature included peer- reviewed articles, including clinical trials and scientific reviews. Literature was identified through March 2021, and references of respective articles and only articles published in the English language were included.