Comparing Nutritional Status of In-centre Nocturnal Hemodialysis Patients to Conventional Hemodialysis Patients

Although hemodialysis is life-saving, unfortunately, people on dialysis often have declining health, quality of life as well as poor nutritional status. Hemodialysis patients must follow a very restrictive diet, and many patients do not eat well and usually report poor appetites. A new approach to dialysis is being used in some hospitals in Alberta and elsewhere, called in-centre nocturnal hemodialysis. This in-centre nocturnal dialysis allows people to receive their dialysis at a hospital or clinic while they sleep. Since this in-centre nocturnal dialysis gives people 8-hour hemodialysis treatment 3 times per week (24 hours of dialysis per week) the patients have better removal of the waste products from their bodies than conventional hemodialysis (an average of 12 hours per week). Also of importance, when using in-centre nocturnal dialysis, people will have more time during the day to work, spend with family, as well as have time to shop for food, to cook and even to eat, which in turn will likely result in improvement in the quality of their lives. This study will follow 10 patients on conventional dialysis and 10 patients on in-centre nocturnal dialysis for 6 months and compare their food intake, muscle mass, weight, body mass index (BMI) and nutrition-related lab tests. The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is an improvement in the nutritional status of the in-centre nocturnal hemodialysis patients compared to the nutritional status of conventional hemodialysis patients.