Heart Failure Patients’ Knowledge and Barriers of Low Sodium Diet Adherence in Erbil City

Abstract

Background and objective: A low sodium diet is a cornerstone of non-pharmacologic therapy for heart failure patients. The objective of the study was to assess knowledge and perceived barriers of low sodium diet adherence of heart failure patients in Erbil City.Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study design was conducted among a sample of 50 patients diagnosed heart failure in Medical Wards and Cardiac Care Units at both Rizgary and Hawler Teaching Hospitals in Erbil City from Feb 2018 to Oct 2019. Patients who met the inclusion criteria were selected for participation of the study, interviews based on a questionnaire patient’s sociodemographic, clinical characteristics and the Dietary Sodium Restriction Questionnaire (DSRQ). Frequency, percentage, and the chi-square test were used for analyzing data.Results: The results show that majority of heart failure patients were low knowledge (80%) and high perceived barriers (66%) to low sodium diet adherence. There were significant associations between knowledge and barrier with age group (p-value=0.01; p-value=0.04), gender, (p-value=0.00; p=0.05), level of education (p-value=0.00; p-value=0.02) and economic status (p-value= < 0.001; p-value= <0.001).Conclusion: Results of the study show that heart failure patients had low knowledge and perceived more barriers to adherence of low sodium diet.