Intradialytic oral nutrition effects on malnourished hemodialysis patients: a randomized trial

Oral nutritional supplementation (ONS) is recommended for malnourished hemodialysis patients when their nutritional intake remains inadequate to meet energy and protein requirements. Patients were randomized into two groups: the intradialytic ONS supplements (INTRA-ONS) group (N = 16) and the interdialytic ONS supplements (INTER-ONS) group (N = 16) for a duration of 12 weeks. Malnutrition inflammation score (MIS) and serum albumin levels were assessed. The total MIS decreased significantly in patients from both the INTRA-ONS group (- 6.13, 95% CI - 8.29 to - 3.96) and the INTER-ONS group (- 3.50, 95% CI - 5.56 to - 1.35). A significant difference in the change of MIS was observed between the two groups (- 3.06, 95% CI - 5.94 to - 0.17). No significant differences were observed between the groups concerning serum albumin levels, dietary intake, anthropometric measurements, or body weight. Intradialytic ONS demonstrates similar benefits on nutritional biomarkers but improves the MIS among malnourished ESRD patients compared to interdialytic ONS.Trial registration Thai Clinical Trials Registry (TCTR) identification number is TCTR20220322007: 16/09/2021.