Purpose: To describe the prevalence of nonadherence with the prescribed diet and fluid restrictions among patients receiving hemodialysis.
Methods: 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.
Findings: 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.
Conclusions: The findings indicate the need to continue to monitor and study hemodialysis patients' adherence behavior longitudinally and to design interventions to enhance adherence.