ABSTRACT
It is widely known that haemodialysis patients do not readily comply with nutrition guidance. At least 6 months after initiating haemodialysis, the patients' dietary knowledge was tested by use of a questionnaire. The relationship between patient dietary compliance and religion and educational level was studied. Seventy patients were included in the study (33 Christians and 37 Muslims), ages ranging from 24 to 87 years. All patients had received haemodialysis for a period of the time ranging from 6 to 216 months. The questionnaire included questions related to salt, potassium and phosphate. Regarding questions, concerning salt, the Christians answered 85.7 +/- 22.8% correctly whilst the Muslims answered 60.1 +/- 34.6% correctly, a difference which was statistically significant (p=0.0001). However, more Christians arrived at the hospital with pulmonary oedema over a two-year period for emergency haemodialysis than Muslims (p=0.017), whilst there was no difference in the number of patients with residual diuresis between the two groups (p=NS). The difference in the incidence of pulmonary oedema could be attributed to the fact that more Christians had heart failure than Muslims (12/33 vs 6/37, p=0.09). Regarding questions concerning potassium, the Christians answered 74.6 +/- 33.9% correctly whilst the Muslims answered 41.1 +/- 38.5% correctly, a difference that was statistically significant (p=0.0001). However despite this difference, no Muslims attended hospital for emergency haemodialysis related to hyperkalaemia over the two-year period. Finally, regarding questions concerning phosphates, the answers from both group of patients were disappointing. Specifically, Christians answered 49.1 +/- 43% correctly, whilst Muslims answered 19.1 +/- 3.3% of the questions correctly, a difference which was statistically significant (p=0.0001). Patients did not acquire the necessary dietary knowledge but despite insufficient knowledge, they had a low incidence of fluid overload, hyperkalaemia and hyperphosphataemia. The Christians, despite superior knowledge, compared to the Muslims had more episodes of fluid overload.
