Dietary intake and nutritional status of Moroccan hemodialysis patients: Sidi Bennour case-study

Introduction: Poor nutritional status (NS) of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is considered the main cause of poor clinical prognosis and mortality. Objective: This study aims to evaluate NS and analyze daily intakes and the prevalence of protein-energy malnutrition in hemodialysis (HD) patients with ESRD in comparison with control subjects without kidney disease. Subjects and Methods: The study included 156 ESRD patients as the case group and 210 apparently healthy subjects without chronic kidney disease as the control group. Clinical data, anthropometric measurements and two 24-hour dietary recalls were collected to assess nutritional status and dietary intake. Results: The mean energy intake (EI) among the cases was 1905.68 ± 594.36 kcal per day with only 36.1% of them found to meet the current recommended intake for energy density and 6% having met the recommended minimum of 1.1 to 1.2 g/kg of protein per day. Total dietary intakes of calories, protein, fat, and carbohydrates were significantly lower in HD patients compared to the control group. Likewise, the results showed low intakes of minerals and vitamins in HD patients compared to control subjects. Protein and dietary energy density were negatively correlated with age, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Conclusion: The study reveals the crucial importance of assessing and monitoring the diet and nutritional status of hemodialysis patients which could potentially help provide information on irregularities to be corrected and thus contribute to improved health and quality of life during treatment of HD patients.