title: Nutritional status influences generic and disease-specific quality of life measures in haemodialysis patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Poor nutritional status and worse healthrelated quality of life (QoL) have been reported in haemodialysis (HD) patients. The utilization of generic and disease specific QoL questionnaires in the same population may provide a better understanding of the significance of nutrition in QoL dimensions.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess nutritional status by easy to use parameters and to evaluate the potential relationship with QoL measured by generic and disease specific questionnaires.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nutritional status was assessed by subjective global assessment adapted to renal patients (SGA), body mass index (BMI), nutritional intake and appetite. QoL was assessed by the generic EuroQoL and disease specific Kidney Disease Quality of Life-Short Form (KDQoL-SF) questionnaires.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study comprised 130 patients of both genders, mean age 62.7 ± 14.7 years. The prevalence of undernutrition ranged from 3.1% by BMI ≤ 18.5 kg/m² to 75.4% for patients below energy and protein intake recommendations. With the exception of BMI classification, undernourished patients had worse scores in nearly all QoL dimensions (EuroQoL and KDQoL-SF), a pattern which was dominantly maintained when adjusted for demographics and disease-related variables. Overweight/ obese patients (BMI ≥ 25) also had worse scores in some QoL dimensions, but after adjustment the pattern was maintained only in the symptoms and problems dimension of KDQoL-SF (p = 0.011).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study reveals that even in mildly undernourished HD patients, nutritional status has a significant impact in several QoL dimensions. The questionnaires used provided different, almost complementary perspectives, yet for daily practice EuroQoL is simpler. Assuring a good nutritional status, may positively influence QoL.
authors.affiliation: Escola Superior de Tecnologia da Saúde de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal. ana.moreira@estesl.ipl.pt
authors.forename: Ana Catarina
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Moreira
authors.forename: Elisabete
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Carolino
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Domingos
authors.forename: Augusta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gaspar
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ponce
authors.forename: María Ermelinda
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Camilo
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D006435:Renal Dialysis; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires