Nutritional assessment of patients on maintenance haemodialysis

Nutritional assessment was carried out on fifty haemodialyzed patients by demographic, anthropometric, biochemical and dietary indices. The mean age of the patients was 49 years with a male to female ratio of 2.3:1. The duration of dialysis ranged from 6 to 40 months with a mean of 25 months. Fifty percent of the patients were moderately nourished based on their body weight 44%, body mass index 40% and mid-arm circumference 66%. Seventy percent patients had albumin and total proteins within the normal range. Blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, cholesterol, potassium and phosphorus did not significantly change from the previous reports. The calorie and protein intake in 60-70% cases was less than recommended. Overall there was a tendency to calorie and to a lesser degree protein malnutrition in our patients. It is suggested that preventing malnutrition by economical, aggressive and ongoing dietary intervention may minimize malnutrition in haemodialyzed patients.