title: Clinical Characteristics of Overhydration in Patients with Idiopathic Edema.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Idiopathic edema (IE) is a common clinical syndrome. Designing treatment plans for IE is problematic because of the difficulty in assessing volume status. We aimed to evaluate volume status, measured by bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS), and investigated clinical parameters associated with volume overload (VO) in patients with IE.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with IE were defined as those with symptomatic edema and without abnormal renal function or any other apparent cause of edema. A total of 124 patients were included. Overhydration (OH) and extracellular water (ECW) were calculated using BIS. Relative hydration status (x0394;HS) was defined as OH/ECW. Patients were classified into 2 groups: overhydrated group (OG; x0394;HS ≥7%) and non-OG (NOG; x0394;HS <7). Simple and multiple logistic regression analyses were used to assess the influence of several variables on the incidence of VO.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 124 patients, 37 (29.8%) were in the OG. The proportion of men in the OG was higher than that in the NOG (p = 0.020). Patients in the OG showed more frequent pretibial pitting edema (PTPE, p < 0.001) and had lower hemoglobin (p = 0.008) and serum albumin levels (p < 0.001). The multivariate analysis showed that the presence of PTPE (OR 10.62, 95% CI 1.98-57.1), low serum albumin level (OR 0.01, 95% CI 0.00-0.25) and lower fat tissue index (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.63-0.97) were independent risk factors for the presence of VO.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BIS helps to identify volume status and body composition in patients with IE.
authors.affiliation: Renal Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Chungnam National University Hospital, Daejeon, South Korea.
authors.forename: Young Rok
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Ham
authors.forename: Hae Ri
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hong Jae
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.forename: Yoo Hyung
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Jae Woong
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Jeon
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Dae Eun
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Ki Ryang
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Na
authors.forename: Kang Wook
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004487:Edema / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014883:Water-Electrolyte Imbalance