Pilot Study of Nutrition in Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients

This pilot study aims to produce preliminary data on the safety of providing high-protein meals to patients during dialysis, and effects of this intervention on nutritional status and quality of life outcomes. This is a non-randomized, parallel arm study. Meals provided will follow recommended dietary guidelines for HD patients and will provide approximately 1/3 of daily recommended protein intake. Patients will be allocated to either the treatment or control group by HD shift schedule. 2 months of baseline data will be collected, followed by 9 weeks of meal intervention/control and data collection. The primary outcome will be frequency of hypotensive events during dialysis requiring intervention. Secondary outcomes will include highest and lowest systolic blood pressure during dialysis, blood biochemistries including measures of renal function, nutritional status, and electrolyte balance; dialysis compliance; fluid retention; sleep and other quality of life measures; and dietary intake data.