Skip to main content

UKidney Nephrology News and Insights

NOV
12
0

Dilemma for Dialysis Patients, Skinny is Dangerous

SAN DIEGO—Dialysis patients with low body fat are at increased risk of death—even compared to patients at the highest level of body fat percentage, according to research being presented at the American Society of Nephrology's 42nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in San Diego.

"Our study indicates that body fat may be protective in dialysis patients," said Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh, PhD, of LABioMed at Harbor-UCLA. "The results add to the increasing number of reports about the 'obesity paradox' or 'reverse epidemiology' in patients with chronic kidney disease and other chronic diseases."

Nephrologists have puzzled over the "obesity paradox" in dialysis patients, Kalantar-Zadeh said. "Counter-intuitively, higher body mass index is associated with greater survival in hemodialysis patients. We hypothesized that very low body fat—less than ten percent—would be a strong predictor of mortality."

Using near-infrared interactance technology, the researchers measured body fat percentage in 671 hemodialysis patients from eight California dialysis centers. They then compared five-year mortality rates for patients at different levels of body fat percentage. The mortality rate was highest for dialysis patients with less than 10 percent body fat—2.5 to 3 times higher than for those with body fat of 20 to 30 percent. The increased risk of death for patients with very low body fat remained after adjustment for age, sex, race, other illnesses, and key laboratory results. Further analyses using continuous values of body fat (rather than categories) confirmed a direct, linear relationship between body fat and mortality risk: "The higher the body fat, the greater the survival," said Kalantar-Zadeh. Although more research is needed, the results suggest that the obesity paradox may be explained by an increased risk of death for patients with very low body fat, compared to those with average—or even very high—body fat percentage.

The observational study had the same limitations as other epidemiological studies, Kalantar-Zadeh points out. "In addition, we estimated body fat by measuring the subcutaneous fat of the upper arm, which may be different from the intra-abdominal fat." 10/31/2009

Continue reading
  9774 Hits
APR
08
0

In-center nocturnal hemodialysis: a novel therapy

Nocturnal hemodialysis in the home has emerged as a very impressive modality when managing patients with end-stage renal failure. The added dialysis time, combined with gentle solute and water removal has led to the improvement in several important parameters in patients who undergo it. However, not all patients can manage the complexities or some of the practicalities of having dialysis in the home. In this month's issue of Clinical Journal of the ASN, Dr. Goldstein et al report on their experience with nocturnal dialysis in hospital. Several parameters were positively effected by this novel therapy where patients sleep three nights per week at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. The study suggests that this modality is a viable option when caring for patients with end-stage renal failure.

Return to UKidney blog home page

Continue reading
  10412 Hits
APR
05
0

Statins in end-stage renal failure: failure revisted

After disappointing findings in the 4D Study, a subsequent trial reported in a recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine once again demonstrated disappointing results with statin therapy in patients with end-stage renal failure. In the AURORA study, 2776 patients aged 50-80 were randomized to 10 mg of Crestor or placebo. Despite an average of 43% reduction in LDL, there was no change in the primary end-point of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke after 3.8 years of follow-up.

This study is an unfortunate reminder of the difficulty creating measurable impact on hard clinical end-points in patients with end-stage renal failure.

 

Return to UKidney blog home page

Continue reading
  18830 Hits
ukidneyisup