Increased total body fat during PD treatment

Sufficient nutritional intake is important to adjust the increased catabolic rate in uremic patients during dialysis treatment. Increased glucose absorption during PD treatment may, however, interfere with the amount of muscle- and fat-mass in the body. We have therefore studied the amount of total body fat composition in 8 male PD patients (treatment period 79 months, range 3-23 before and 165.5 months, range 8-35.5 after the study). Food intake was recorded for 7 days twice in four patients with an interval of 6-8 months. Total body fat (%) was measured by means of a computerized model of near infrared interactance (IRI) ("FUTREX") on the dominant upper arm. The energy and protein intake were 1731 +/- 292 kcal. and 86.9 +/- 17.2 g (n = 4) during the first recording period of food intake. In the second period the energy and protein intake were 1676 +/- 105 kcal and 72.7 +/- 10.2 g (n = 4) (NS). The total body fat increased from 19.8 +/- 2.9 to 22.5 +/- 3.0 (p < 0.05), in spite of unchanged total body weight.

PD patients seem to accumulate fat during PD treatment with glucose as osmotic agent. This may influence the cardiovascular risks. The results indicate nutritional adjustments and possibly also increased physical activity.