Nutritional Assessment and Dietary Requirements in Kidney Transplant Patients: A Literature Review as a Clinical Guideline

Abstract

Kidney transplantation is a preferred treatment and the 'last resort' in chronic kidney disease after end-stage renal disease. Considering the key role of nutrition in post-transplant recovery, the present study aimed to review the nutritional assessment and dietary requirements of kidney transplant patients. Relevant articles were retrieved via searching in databases such as PubMed, Medline, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science using various keywords and phrases, including kidney transplantation, end-stage disease, nutrition, dietary intake, nutritional assessment, and nutritional evaluation. According to the literature, medical nutrition therapy is essentially involved in the post-transplantation recovery of patients with kidney failure. Furthermore, it seems that nutritional and medical evaluation based on laboratory methods, vital signs, and anthropometric measurements are critical to improving the quality of nutritional interventions after kidney transplantation and may help decrease the risk of kidney transplant rejection. Therefore, the periodic evaluation and follow-up of these could yield beneficial outcomes.

Keywords

• kidney transplantation
• nutritional assessment
• dietary requirements
• food intakes