A Comparative Study of Nutritional Parameters in Hemodialysis Patients

The high prevalence of protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) is a critical issue for patients with end stage of renal disease (ESRD) on hemodialysis (HD). The aim of this study was to compare the nutritional indices of hemodialysis patients (HP) with healthy male subjects (control group) of the same age. Mean body mass index (BMI) was significantly low (p<0.001) in patients as compared with the control group (23±3.8 vs 30.2±3.5kg/m2, respectively). Similarly, the patients had body weight lower than control group. The analysis of food intake showed that the mean energy and protein intakes were significantly lower in HP than the healthy subjects. Notably all patients had energy below the recommended intake of HP (30 kcal/kg/d), meanwhile, only 25% of the patients had the protein intake above 1.2 g/kg/d. The total proteins and mean serum albumin levels were significantly low (p