Nonadherence with diet and fluid restrictions among adults having hemodialysis

To describe the prevalence of nonadherence with the prescribed diet and fluid restrictions among patients receiving hemodialysis.

A multicenter cross-sectional design with 916 patients recruited from 18 dialysis centers in Germany and Belgium. The Dialysis Diet and Fluid Nonadherence Questionnaire (DDFQ) was used to measure patients' nonadherence.

The results showed that many patients had difficulty following diet (81.4%) and fluid (74.6%) restrictions. Younger male patients and smokers were at highest risk for non-adherence. Higher levels of interdialysis weight gain were associated with nonadherence.

The findings indicate the need to continue to monitor and study hemodialysis patients' adherence behavior longitudinally and to design interventions to enhance adherence.