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Abstract Introduction A worldwide epidemic of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with cases among agricultural workers, and others performing manual labor, especially in Central America known as CKD of unknown cause (CDKu). The objective of this study was to verify the prevalence of rural and city workers with CKD and associated factors in Brazil. Methods A retrospective study with 660 patients who underwent evaluation for sick leave benefits in Brazil from January 2007 to April 2017. The data were collected using the Brazilian National Social Security (INSS) System Information, and registered gender, age, occupation, etiology, manual and non-manual labor. Results The results showed a prevalence of male workers (64,24%), living in cities (84,39%), performing manual labor jobs (51,6%), with the mean age of 56,42 years old. Agricultural workers accounted for 32% of the cases. The main occupation for city workers was truck driver and for rural employers was coffee agricultural workers. The main etiologies were the same for rural and city workers: 1) Primary Hypertension, 2) Diabetes Mellitus, 3) Unknown, 4) Polycystic Kidney Disease. Twenty e two percent of rural workers had CKDu. Discussion CKDu can have higher prevalence among agricultural workers and may cause long-term disability. Preventing manual labor workers, especially in the rural area, from developing CKDu may reduce the number of sick leave long-term benefits. Conclusion It was observed a higher number of manual labor workers with CKD, and many of them with CKDu especially in agricultural workers. It is possible that these agricultural workers may have CKDu associated with manual labor.
Ferreira et al. (Mon,) studied this question.