title: Should sodium intake be restricted in chronic heart failure?
abstract: Sodium restriction has been recommended in chronic heart failure for decades. However, the evidence about the benefit of this measure is not clear, and it might even increase risks. Searching in Epistemonikos database, which is maintained by screening multiple databases, we identified three systematic reviews incorporating 13 studies addressing the question of this article, 10 were randomized trials. We extracted data, combined the evidence using meta-analysis and generated a summary of findings table following the GRADE approach. We concluded sodium restriction might increase mortality and the risk of hospital admission in chronic heart failure, but the certainty of the evidence is low.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Medicina, Santiago, Chile; Proyecto Epistemonikos, Santiago, Chile. Address: Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Lira 63, Santiago Centro, Chile. Email: radagabriel@epistemonikos.org.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Castro-Gutiérrez
authors.affiliation: Proyecto Epistemonikos, Santiago, Chile; Programa de Salud Basada en Evidencia, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; Departamento de Medicina Interna, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; GRADE working group; The Cochrane Collaboration.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rada
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D004039:Diet, Sodium-Restricted / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000178:diet therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic