Nutritional status will be evaluated through:
* Malnutrition Inflammation Score (MIS),
* Anthropometric measurements,
* albumin, prealbumin, transferrin,
* 24h urinary nitrogen,
* bioimpedance analysis (BIA),
* periodic 24h dietary diaries,
* International Society of Renal Nutrition and Metabolism (ISRNM),
Physical performance will be evaluated through:
* Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB)
* Handgrip strength
Inflammation assessment:
* c-reactive protein (CRP)
* Interleukine-6 (IL6)
* whole blood Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio
Renal function assessment:
* eGFR based on serum creatinine and cystatin C
* average creatinine and urea clearance
Uremic metabolic alteration:
* serum urea
* serum phosphate
* serum FGF23
* parathormone (PTH),
* plasma pH and bicarbonate
Time points of evaluation Dietary compliance has been assessed by a trained nutritionist at months 1, 2, 3 and 6. Dietary consumption was estimated by using dietary diaries and normalized catabolic protein rate (nPCR) measurement at baseline, 3 and at 6 months.
Nutritional status and physical performance have been evaluated monthly for the first three months and then at 6 months.