Single meal food intake characteristics reliably predict nutrition status and body composition in patients undergoing continuous peritoneal dialysis.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to determine whether single meal food intake characteristics measured via visual analogue scales (VAS) predict appetite and have a clinical impact on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients.


METHODS
The nutritional status of 50 continuous ambulatory PD patients (30 men, mean age 44.26 +/- 13.53 years, and 20 women, mean age 48.70 +/- 12.53 years) at a single tertiary referral hospital was evaluated via subjective global assessment and VAS questionnaires. The Spearman correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the linear association between continuous variables, while the two-sample Student's t-test was performed to compare ghrelin levels between the two groups. P-values less than 0.05 were considered to be of statistical significance.


RESULTS
Subjective global assessment was correlated with VAS scores in each single patient. VAS score for fullness sensation was significantly positively correlated with age (r = 0.41, P = 0.02), triceps skin fold (r = 0.46, P = 0.01), waist-hip ratio (r = 0.50, P = 0.005) and fat content (r = 0.37, P = 0.04), and significantly negatively correlated with daily energy (r = -0.36, P = 0.04) and protein intake (r = -0.52, P = 0.003). By contrast, serum ghrelin level and the four VAS scores were not correlated.


CONCLUSIONS
Single meal food intake characteristics can reliably estimate nutrition status and predict body composition in patients undergoing continuous PD.
Chang
Chia-Chu
CC
Nephrology Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Children's Hospital, Changhua Christian Hospital, Chang Jung Christian University, Tainan, Taiwan.
Chen
Hung-Lin
HL
Hung
Ching-Hui
CH
Hwang
Kai-Lin
KL
Lin
Ching-Yuang
CY
D001823:Body Composition; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009752:Nutritional Status; D010531:Peritoneal Dialysis, Continuous Ambulatory; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results