Obesity and metabolic syndrome in hemodialysis patients: single center experience

Recent evidence highlights the relationship between metabolic syndrome (MS) and increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) diseases. The overall prevalence of the MS is increased in hemodialysis population. To evaluate the prevalence of the MS and obesity in our hemodialysis (HD) patients, we studied 234 HD patients and 34 patients were excluded from the study due to incomplete data at the time of analysis. For the remaining 200 patients, 92% were below the age of 70 years old, 162 (81%) were hypertensive, 90(45%) were diabetic, 54 (27%) had ischemic heart diseases, and 116 (58%) had MS. The incidence of MS in the male and female patients was 50% and 67%, respectively, with a mean abdominal girth more than 94 cm in males and only 14% of the patients revealed abdominal girth measurement below 80 cm in females. We conclude that there is a high prevalence of obesity and MS in our HD patients. Such patients may be at risk of developing morbidities and may benefit from therapy such as lifestyle changes including weight reduction and increased physical activity.