Effect of Personalized Nutritional Counseling on the Nutritional Status of Hemodialysis Patients

Abstract

This study set out to evaluate the impact of personalized nutritional counseling (PNC) on the nutritional status of hemodialysis (HD) patients. This was an intervention study for 10 months at 2 hospitals. Anthropometric, biochemical, dietary, and body composition parameters were measured at baseline and after 3 and 6 months of PNC. A total of 42 patients (23 men and 19 women) were included. Intake of dietary protein, serum albumin, and cholesterol levels had increased significantly from baseline to month 6 (p < 0.05). Among the bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) parameters, both the body cell mass (BCM) and the fat free mass (FFM) had significantly reduced at month 3 compared to baseline (p < 0.05). However, there was no difference between baseline and month 6. We assessed the nutritional status of the subjects using the malnutrition inflammation score (MIS), and divided them into an adequately nourished (AN) and a malnourished (MN) group at baseline. In the subgroup analysis, serum levels of albumin and cholesterol had increased significantly, particularly from baseline to month 6 in the MN group (p < 0.05). This study suggests that consecutive PNC contributed to the improvement of the protein intake, serum levels of albumin, cholesterol and to the delay of muscle wasting, which could also have a positive impact on the nutritional status, particularly in malnourished patients receiving HD treatment.