title: Energy expenditure and nutritional adequacy of rehabilitation paraplegics with asymptomatic bacteriuria and pressure sores.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To measure resting energy expenditure (REE) in a group of people with postacute paraplegia, quantify the impact of asymptomatic bacteriuria and pressure sore(s) on patients' metabolic rate, and estimate the adequacy of patients' nutritional intakes to preserve patients' protein levels.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten males with post-acute paraplegia aged 42.1+/-18.7 years. We evaluated: height, body mass index (BMI), resting energy expenditure (REE), total daily calorie requirement (E), 24-h urine creatinine excretion (Cru), creatinine index (CI), and nitrogen balance (NB).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Subjects with paraplegia showed high erythrocyte sedimentation rates. As a group, they had normal resting calorie consumption when REE was normalized for unit of urine creatinine (REE/Cru), it was higher in patients than in controls. Six of the 10 patients had a low calorie intake: of these only three had a negative nitrogen balance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In conclusion, the resting energy expenditure of the subjects with significant bacteriuria and pressure sore(s) of 23.7 kcal/kg/day suggests that a large portion of patients may have an inadequate calorie protein intake to preserve their nutritional status. The clinical significance of this study is that 28.5 kcal/kg/day may be the lower calorie threshold to meet the metabolic demands of people with apyretic paraplegia with bacteriuria and pressure sore(s).
authors.affiliation: Fondazione S. Maugeri, Clinica del Lavoro e della Riabilitazione, IRCCS, Istituto Scientifico di Montescano, Montescano-Pavia, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aquilani
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Boschi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Contardi
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pistarini
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Achilli
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fizzotti
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Moroni
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Catapano
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Verri
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pastoris
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001437:Bacteriuria / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism*; D001806:Blood Urea Nitrogen; D003404:Creatinine / Q000097:blood / Q000652:urine; D002149:Energy Intake; D004734:Energy Metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010264:Paraplegia / Q000150:complications / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003668:Pressure Ulcer / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D003404:Creatinine