Nutritional status, energy expenditure, and protein oxidative stress after kidney transplantation.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the association between nutritional status, resting energy expenditure (REE), and protein oxidative stress in patients after kidney transplantation (KT).

METHODOLOGY: The study evaluated 35 patients transplanted at the time of hospital discharge and 3 months after regarding: body composition, REE (by indirect calorimetry), and injury factor (IF); serum urea, creatinine, glucose, albumin, total protein, advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP), vitamin C.

RESULTS: Three months after discharge, there was an improvement in renal function, nutritional status, and oxidative stress, with a standardization in the REE/kg. There was an increase in body weight, mainly in fat mass. The correlations showed that a greater cold ischemia time resulted in a deeper decline in vitamin C; a longer hospital length stay resulted in a greater reduction in AOPP; the higher preoperative body weight showed greater increases in body fat and glucose after transplantation. For decreases in REE and IF, there were increases in total protein. Finally, at hospital discharge there was a greater gain in weight, lower albumin, and total protein among individuals who had rejection episodes.

DISCUSSION: The KT improves many of metabolic abnormalities, with the improvement of nutritional status, oxidative stress, and normalization of REE.