Nutritional Status of Hemodialysis Patients in a Developing Economy: A Case Study in Nigeria

Abstract

An important indicator of the well-being of any individual is the status of his/her nutrition. Apart from being a notable pointer of quality of life, nutrition is an inevitable agent for sustainable well-being of all individuals. This paper examined the nutritional status of hemodialysis patients before and after dialysis. The study was based on primary and secondary data. A purposive sampling procedure was adopted to administer structured questionnaires on 20 patients with chronic renal failure, under going dialysis at the Renal Unit of the Male and Female Medical Wards (South West 3 and North West 3 and Owena renal Wards) University College Hospital, Ibadan Oyo State, Nigeria. The reliability of the research instrument was conducted using test-retest method and this gave a reliability coef ficient of (r) = 0.82. Data collected were analyzed using simple percentage distribution, mean with their standard deviations and the cross tabulation of key variables were performed. The study revealed that nutritional status of the patients has serious impacts on the prognosis of the disease. Also, clinical symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and oedema were common among the subjects. The study, however, recommends that the public should be enlightened on the causes of renal failure, healthy eating- habit. It also calls on government to subsidize the cost of health care for the patients under going hemodialysis. Dieticians were also sensitized to improve the energy and micronutrient intake of patients under going maintenance hemodialysis.