title: Nutritional status and body composition evolution in early post-renal transplantation: is there a female advantage?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Chronic renal failure is associated with metabolic derangements, affecting proteins, amino acids, and lipids. Usually these patients follow a restricted diet. Kidney transplant patients enjoy a recovery of renal function, but their therapeutics may entail significant changes in general metabolism. We compare the anthropometric results during the first 3 months after successful transplant for male and female patients versus a healthy group.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighteen patients (11 men and 7 women) were studied. Anthropometry was assessed before and at month 1 and month 3 posttransplant including body weight (Wt), body mass index (BMI), triceps (TSF), biceps (BSF), subscapular (SCSF), and suprailiac skinfolds (SISF), midarm circumference (MAC), midarm muscle circumference (MAMC), corrected arm muscle area (CT.AMA), total body muscle mass (MM), body density (D), fat mass (FM), and fat-free mass (FFM). The healthy group was evaluated three times in the first year.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pretransplant men showed lower Wt, BMI, TSF, BSF, SCSF, SISF, MAC, MAMC, CT.AMA, MM, FM and FFM than controls, while women displayed no differences from controls. By the third month, men showed only a partial recovery and women higher TSF and SCSF than controls.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Uremic men before transplant displayed undernutrition indices. During the first 3 months posttransplant men showed an incomplete recovery of anthropometric parameters. Quite differently, women started close to normal and had significantly increased body weight and fat content posttransplant. We suggest that nutritional requirements post-kidney grafting may be significantly different among male compared to female patients.
authors.affiliation: Nephrology Department, S João Hospital, Porto, Portugal. jcasimiro@mail.telepac.pt
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coroas
authors.forename: J G G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sampaio
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Borges
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tavares
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pestana
authors.forename: M D V
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Almeida
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D001823:Body Composition; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D015519:Bone Density; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology; D009752:Nutritional Status; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014511:Uremia / Q000601:surgery