title: Single meal food intake characteristics reliably predict nutrition status and body composition in patients undergoing continuous peritoneal dialysis.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Nephrology Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Children's Hospital, Changhua Christian Hospital, Chang Jung Christian University, Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chia-Chu
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Hung-Lin
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ching-Hui
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: Kai-Lin
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Ching-Yuang
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: 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