Evaluation of nutritional status of patients on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) by dual photon energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA)

Malnutrition is a serious complication in patients on long-term CAPD treatment. Accordingly, quantitative evaluation of nutritional status is a critical issue. This study aimed to assess nutritional status by dual photon energy x -ray absorptiometry (DEXA) in CAPD patients. Total lean body mass (D-TBM), right arm lean mass (D-RAM) and body fat percent (D-%FAT) measured by DEXA were compared with mid-arm muscle circumference (MAMC) and body fat percent (AP-%FAT) measured by anthropometrics (AP) in 51 CAPD patients. The subjects were stratified into groups by gender, age, duration on CAPD, and diabetes mellitus or non-diabetes. There was significant correlation between D-TBM, D-RAM and MAMC (r=0.519, p=0.001, r=0.545, p=0.001) or D-%FAT and AP-%FAT (r=0.763, p=0.0001). However, in the groups of females with over 50 years and over 48 months of dialysis duration, there was no correlation between D-TBM, D-RAM and MAMC. The DEXA method is useful in the quantitative evaluation of nutritional status of dialysis patients serially.