The state of nutrition care in outpatient hemodialysis settings in Malaysia: a nationwide survey

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to assess the situational capacity for nutrition care delivery in the outpatient hemodialysis (HD) setting in Malaysia by evaluating dietitian accessibility, nutrition practices and patients’ outcomes. METHODS: A 17-item questionnaire was developed to assess nutrition practices and administered to dialysis managers of 150 HD centers, identified through the National Renal Registry. Nutritional outcomes of 4362 patients enabled crosscutting comparisons as per dietitian accessibility and center sector. RESULTS: Dedicated dietitian (18%) and visiting/shared dietitian (14.7%) service availability was limited, with greatest accessibility at government centers (82.4%) > non-governmental organization (NGO) centers (26.7%) > private centers (15.1%). Nutritional monitoring varied across HD centers as per albumin (100%) > normalized protein catabolic rate (32.7%) > body mass index (BMI, 30.7%) > dietary intake (6.0%). Both sector and dietitian accessibility was not associated with achieving albumin ≥40 g/L. However, NGO centers were 36% more likely (p = 0.030) to achieve pre-dialysis serum creatinine ≥884 μmol/L compared to government centers, whilst centers with dedicated dietitian service were 29% less likely (p = 0.017) to achieve pre-dialysis serum creatinine ≥884 μmol/L. In terms of BMI, private centers were 32% more likely (p = 0.022) to achieve BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m(2) compared to government centers. Private centers were 62% less likely (p < 0.001) while NGO centers were 56% less likely (p < 0.001) to achieve serum phosphorus control compared to government centers. Patients from centers with a shared/visiting dietitian had 35% lower probability (p < 0.001) to achieve serum phosphorus levels below 1.78 mmol/L compared to centers without access to a dietitian. CONCLUSIONS: There were clear discrepancies in nutritional care in Malaysian HD centers. Changes in stakeholder policy are required to ensure that dietitian service is available in Malaysian HD centers. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12913-018-3702-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.