The effect of intradialytic food intake on the urea reduction ratio and single-pool Kt/V values in patients followed-up at a hemodialysis center*

Authors: BELGÜZAR KARA, CENGİZ HAN AÇIKEL

Abstract: This study was conducted to determine the effect of intradialytic food intake on the urea reduction rate (URR) and single-pool Kt/V (spKt/V) values in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Materials and methods: The study was designed as a quasiexperiment. Twenty-five patients were enrolled in this study. The patients' mean age was 56.5 ± 13.0 years and median time on HD was 63 months. In the first stage of the study, patients were given a standard meal after the first hour of the treatment. The same study group underwent HD without intradialytic food intake 1 week later. Predialysis and postdialysis blood samples for measurement of blood urea nitrogen levels were drawn at the HD sessions with and without food intake. The URR and spKt/V values were calculated. Descriptive statistics, the paired samples t-test, repeated measures analysis of variance, and power analysis were used for the analysis of data. Results: The mean URR and spKt/V values of the patients were higher in the session without food ingestion compared to the other session. Statistically significant differences were found between the sessions with and without food intake for URR and spKt/V values (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Intradialytic food intake seems to cause a decrease in the URR and spKt/V values.

Keywords: Blood urea nitrogen, food intake, hemodialysis, Kt/V, urea reduction rate

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