Determination of nutritional status, body composition of hemodialysis patients and correlation with functional tests

This study was aimed to evaluate nutritional status and body composition, to investigate the relationship between functional status in hemodialysis patients. 204 (85 female and 119 male) chronic hemodialysis patients aged between 18 and 85 years participated in this cross-sectional study in a dialysis center in Izmir. Personal information, information about diseases and treatments, physical activity records, three-day food consumption records and body composition monitor results of patients were taken. Antropometric measurements and Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) were applied on patients. The comorbidity and performance status of the patients was measured using Charlson Comorbidity Index and Karnofsky Performance Scale. Data of the study were analyzed with SPSS 17.0 program. Percentile, mean, standart deviation, Independent Samples t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskall Wallis test and Spearman correlation coefficient were used in the analysis of data. The level of significance was accepted as p<0.05. In our study, the mean age of the patients 64.2±13.11 years. According to the Subjective Global Assessment, %36.7 of the patients were determined to have moderate or severe malnutrition. According to the Body Mass Index classification, %4.4% of the patients were found to be underweight, 43.6% were normal weight, 37.7% were overweight and 24.2% were obese. There was no significant difference between middle arm circumface, triceps skinfold thickness, handgrips, LTM, ATM and phase angle levels (p>0.05), whereas OH, FTI, LTM, BCM, and LTI levels were significantly different between malnourished and well-nourished patients (p<0.05). There was a negative correlation between SGD score and Karnofsky Performance Score, general health score, physical, mental health scores .According to these results, nutritional status and body composition of hemodialysis patients were correlated with quality of life and performance score. Follow-up of nutritional status of these patients at risk for malnutrition may improve their functional status and quality of life. Key words: Hemodialysis; Nutritional Status; Body Composition; Functional Status