Tehreen Tarique and Parag Narayan Deshmukhe

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 5 patients on maintenance hemodialysis require strict dietary and fluid management to prevent complications. This pilot study assessed dietary knowledge, attitudes, practices, and barriers among CKD stage 5 patients.

Methods: An observational pilot study of ten CKD stage 5 hemodialysis patients was conducted using a validated questionnaire assessing demographic profile, clinical variables, diet adherence patterns, and perceived barriers. Descriptive statistics were used.

Results: All patients showed good dietary knowledge but adherence declined with longer dialysis duration. Key barriers included taste issues, cultural food habits, conflicting dietary advice, caregiver burden, and psychosocial factors such as fatigue and hopelessness.

Conclusion: Despite adequate knowledge, renal diet adherence is suboptimal in long-term dialysis patients due to multifactorial barriers. Regular counseling, caregiver engagement, consistent dietary guidance, and digital reminder tools may improve adherence.

Pages: 364-368  |  60 Views  17 Downloads