Malnutrition in Patients on Dialysis Treatment

Many factors contribute to morbidity and mortality in patients with end-stage renal disease, one of these being malnutrition. Eating disorders are inevitable in patients with uremia. A common associated factor is inflammation with hypoalbuminemia and decrease in serum proteins. In the present study, data on 33 (38.37%) female and 53 (61.63%) male patients were assessed with standard statistical analysis including the R-test for normality. The assessment method used was the Malnutrition Inflammation Score (MIS) composed of 10 components. The mean patient age was 67.28±12, range 32-86 years. The mean duration of hemodialysis (HD) was 48.94±47.57, range 3-224 months. The MIS has three categories: (A) well nourished; (B) mild malnutrition; and (C) severe malnutrition. At the beginning of the study, results were as follows: (A) 6.98%; (B) 51.16%; and (C) 41.86%. The respective figures recorded after 6 months were as follows: (A) 10.47%; (B) 25.58%; and (C) 63.95%. During the study, 53.49% of patients had a MIS of 7 or more, 6.97% of patients passed away, and 3.49% underwent transplantation. The mean MIS was 20.3±1.63 in the deceased, 3±2.6 in the transplanted, and 7.98±5.7 in the rest of patients. Patients having undergone HD for at least 3 months and aged at least 18 years were included in the analysis. The objective of the study was to determine the rate of malnutrition among HD patients and to compare the results recorded in our center with other HD centers around the world. Furthermore, our aim was to compare MIS with mortality rate. We repeated MIS after 6 and 12 months to find out whether there would be a decrease in the rate of malnutrition among patients, since additional nutritional support was introduced after detection of the state. According to our study results, there is strong correlation of malnutrition, hospitalization and mortality.