Nutritional status and lymphocyte function in maintenance hemodialysis patients

Nutritional status and lymphocyte transformation were examined in 30 clinically stable men who underwent maintenance hemodialysis for 1 to 141 months. The men displayed decreased relative body weight, triceps and subscapular skinfold thickness, midarm circumference, midarm muscle circumference, serum total protein, albumin, transferrin, IgG, IgA, IgM, and C3 concentrations. There were many abnormalities in the plasma amino acid pattern. Lymphocyte transformation stimulated by phytohemagglutin or pokeweed mitogen was reduced. Many nutritional parameters correlated with each other and with the rate of lymphocyte transformation. There was a tendency (p = 0.06) for higher mortality in the malnourished patients during a mean follow-up period of 43.3 months. These findings suggest that clinically stable men undergoing maintenance hemodialysis are typically malnourished. Poor nutritional status may be a cause of impaired lymphocyte function. Malnutrition or wasting may indicate that the patient is at risk for a higher mortality rate.