title: Another look at the relationship between protein intake and dialysis dose.
abstract: It seems reasonable to postulate that an observed relationship between dialysis dose and protein intake reflects improved nutrition with correction of uremic symptoms. This article demonstrates a purely statistical association between the two parameters--protein intake, expressed as normalized protein catabolic rate (NPCR), and dialysis dose quantified as KT/V [the product of urea clearance (K) and treatment time (T) divided by the distribution volume of urea (V)] in peritoneal dialysis. The use of random samples from independent normal distributions of K, V, and urea generation rate (G) for the calculation of KT/V and NPCR reveals that a statistical association is introduced when both protein intake and dialysis dose are normalized proportional to a common distribution V. Not the normalizing parameter V per se, but rather the variability of V accounts for the introduction of this statistical artifact.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Berne, Berne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Uehlinger
mesh_terms: D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D006801:Humans; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy*; D012044:Regression Analysis; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D014508:Urea / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004044:Dietary Proteins; D014508:Urea