Many urgent clinical visits, emergency department (ED) visits, and acute-care hospitalizations continue to be linked to dietary salt indiscretion. Indeed, one in five ED visits for patients with heart failure (HF) can be traced back to dietary indiscretion. Recommendations for sodium intake are inconsistent for patients with HF, as shown by the examples below:
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CCS 2008: < 2 000 mg/day
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AHA 2009 < 2 300 mg /day
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HFSA 2010: 2 000 – 3 000 mg/day
The reason for these inconsistent recommendations is clear: a lack of evidence on the impact of decreased dietary sodium on clinical events in HF populations.
The SODIUM-HF trial is a pragmatic, randomized, controlled trial that seeks to evaluate the long-term effects of a low-sodium diet on composite clinical outcomes composed of a) all-cause mortality, b) cardiovascular hospitalizations, and c) cardiovascular emergency department visits in patients with heart failure. SODIUM-HF is a multi-centre, open-label trial with a blinded adjudicated endpoint; the trial will be completed when all randomized patients (n = 1 000) have been followed for 24 months.
For additional details regarding the study please contact the SODIUM-HF Project Manager at sodiumhf@ualberta.ca
