Predialysis Urea Nitrogen Is a Nutritional Marker of Hemodialysis Patients

End-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients on hemodialysis have poor nutritional status and associated problems such as inflammation and sarcopenia. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) is an important measure of uremic toxins, and urea reduction is a marker of hemodialysis efficacy. However, a low protein diet for lower BUN could aggravate malnutrition in patients, and optimal pre-dialysis BUN is not defined. We investigated the association of pre-dialysis BUN with patients' comorbidities and the relationship between pre-dialysis BUN and serum albumin as a nutrient marker. Among the 67 patients, the average pre- and post-dialysis BUN were 59.2 and 15.0 mg/dL, respectively, serum creatinine was 10.1 mg/dL, and the average serum albumin was 4.0 g/dL. Patients' age was negatively correlated with serum creatinine (r=-0.277, p