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Many PCPs do not discuss low-sodium diet for patients with kidney disease

SAN DIEGO — Nearly half of primary care providers never discuss or recommend lowering dietary sodium intake with patients who could benefit from such diet, including those with kidney disease, according to data presented at ASN Kidney Week.

“There’s a big obesity and diabetes burden in the Roanoke area and we know that these conditions often progress to CKD,” Manavi Bhagwat, MD candidate at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, told Healio Internal Medicine.

Lowering dietary sodium intake is essential for patients with kidney, liver and heart disease and hypertension, but adherence to these diets are often suboptimal, she noted.

“We were really curious to see if primary care providers in the Roanoke area are prescribing diets to patients with CKD risk factors, like hypertension and diabetes, and if patients are getting the education they need in order to follow these healthy lifestyle choices,” she said. “We also wanted to know if providers are checking adherence and seeing if they are actually following the diets that they prescribed because that might contribute to patient nonadherence and then the burden of these risk factors.”

Bhagwat and colleagues administered an eight-question survey via email to 234 PCPs at the Salem VA Medical Center and Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital clinics. The survey asked PCPs about their attitudes towards recommending sodium restriction for kidney disease, hypertension and lower extremity edema, as well as their process to determine dietary adherence. A total of 57 PCPs responded to the survey.

Just over half (54%) of PCPs recommended a low-sodium diet to patients with kidney disease. Of those, 45% instructed patients on how to follow a low-sodium diet. About 13% of PCPs referred patients with kidney disease to a dietitian for instructions on how to follow a low sodium diet. Most PCPs (87.7%) checked adherence to diets simply by asking the patient if they followed the diet.

The rest (46%) of respondents never discussed or prescribed a low-sodium diet to patients that could benefit from it.

“We need more education at the PCP and patient level on these diets because the message needs to be getting out to these patients,” Bhagwat said. “We also need to figure out ways for interventions at both levels.” – by Alaina Tedesco

Reference:

Bhagwat M, Choudhury D. Abstract: SA-PO1067. Presented at: ASN Kidney Week; Oct. 23-28, 2018; San Diego.

Disclosure: Healio Internal Medicine was unable to confirm relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication.