Contributors to nutritional status in continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis as practised in Henan Province, China.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To investigate the nutritional status of patients undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) and the factors involved.

METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: We used the Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) of nutritional status, a general questionnaire, dietary records, and laboratory parameters from 3 consecutive days to develop a NS assessment with it, we assessed 240 patients undergoing CAPD at a dialysis center in Henan Province.

RESULTS: In this setting, the prevalence of malnutrition in patients undergoing CAPD was 11.7%. Univariate analysis showed that patient characteristics related to NS included energy and protein intakes, weight and BMI, dialysis duration, urinary creatinine, and total creatinine clearance rate. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that dialysis duration (p<0.001) and energy intake (p=0.01) were the principal predictors of nutritional status and allowed 81% of the variance in nutritional status to be explained.

CONCLUSIONS: Effective collaboration between nutritionists and other health care workers to minimise dialysis duration and optimize energy intake should improve the nutritionally-related quality of life and well-being among CAPD patients.