The energy intake that is needed for weight gain in COPD candidates for lung transplantation

Many patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have increased resting energy expenditure (REE) and may have an increased need for energy during activity. However, in terms of total energy balance, the influence of differences in REE may be compensated for by differences in daily energy expenditure. Energy needs may therefore be difficult to predict by measuring REE. The aim of this study was to predict the energy intake necessary for weight gain following dietary counselling. We studied 42 COPD patients (n = 27 underweight, n = 15 normal-weight) who were being considered for lung transplantation and had completed an intervention lasting a mean of 22 weeks. In the underweight patients, the dietary intervention consisted of dietary counselling for weight gain, while, in the normal-weight patients it focused on weight maintenance. It has been shown that a weight gain of over 2 kg in patients with COPD improves the prognosis and this was obtained in 52% of our patients. The mean (SD) increase in energy intake in the responders was 3448 (1310) kJ, while it was 635 (2454) kJ, p < 0.01 in the non-responders. Patients who used or had free access to nutritional supplements did not show greater success than patients who only used ordinary foods. Based on the relationship between the dependent variable (kg weight change) and the independent variable (energy intake), we can use linear regression to predict that an energy intake of 180% of REE predicted or 186 kJ/kg (44 kcal/kg) is necessary to obtain a weight gain of 2 kg.