Compliance to fluid and dietary restriction and treatment adherence among chronic hemodialysis patients in a tertiary care hospital, Puducherry

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Fluid and dietary restrictions play a vital role in rehabilitative care of patients on dialysis. Good adherence to the treatment regimen in hemodialysis (HD) patients can also reduce hospitalization risk. Therefore, this study was carried out to assess the compliance to fluid and dietary restrictions and treatment adherence among chronic HD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study of chronic HD patients at JIPMER Hospital was carried out from September to October 2018. Compliance to fluid and dietary restriction and medication adherence was measured through the prevalidated End-Stage Renal Disease Adherence Questionnaire. Continuous variables such as age, income, body mass index, and hemoglobin were described as mean and standard deviation and categorized as proportion where necessary. Categorical variables such as gender, marital, comorbidities, adherence characteristics, and perception/attitude behavior were described as proportions with 95% confidence interval. RESULTS: A total of 96 patients with end-stage renal disease participated in the study. Overall, 83.3% were good, 14.6% had moderate, and 2% had poor in compliance to fluid and dietary restrictions and treatment adherence. Compliance behavior is significantly related to marital status (P = 0.01). The odds of unmarried and widowed are 3.2 times higher than the odds of married within the confidence interval of 0.8–13 for compliance behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Enhanced patient education plays an important role in slowing the development of kidney failure and detaining the need to begin kidney dialysis. Educational intervention is needed for HD patients to improve the compliance with diet and fluid restrictions.