ABSTRACT
Objective To study the salt intake of patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis and explore their knowledge and behaviour. Methods The patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis were offered salt spoon and soy sauce cup. Their diaries on home meals for 3 consecutive days were collected to calculate their salt intake. Meanwhile, a one to one interview was done to evaluate the accuracy of patient′s diet diary and the knowledge and behavior of low salt diet and find out related factors of salt intake. Results The average salt intake was (6.49 ± 1.64)g/d. The average composition rate in the low salt diet knowledge in low salt diet behavior was 51.00% and 47.00% respectively. Age and education level were the influencing factors of salt intake. Conclusions The average salt intake is much higher than the standard for the patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis. Their low salt diet knowledge is in the middle level and their low salt diet behavior is in the middle or lower level. The related factors include age and education among patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis.