Serial changes in body composition in patients with chronic renal failure on peritoneal dialysis]

Nutritional status is one of the most important factors affecting mortality and morbidity in chronic dialysis patients. There are, however, few data on serial body composition changes in these patients. To investigate serial changes in body composition in patients on peritoneal dialysis, we measured intracellular fluid volume(ICF), extracellular fluid volume(ECF), body protein volume(BPV), body fat volume(BFV) and bone mineral content(BMC) using multifrequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (MF-BIA). MF-BIA was performed in 35 patients, consisting of 21 men and 14 women with a mean age of 51.3 +/- 10.9 years, before and after one year of observation. At the baseline in male patients, ICF was 37.0 +/- 3.4%, ECF 19.7 +/- 1.6%, BPV 20.7 +/- 1.7%, BFV 18.1 +/- 6.6% and BMC 4.5 +/- 0.4% of body weight, and in female patients ICF was 34.4 +/- 2.6%, ECF 17.8 +/- 1.9% BPV 19.0 +/- 1.6%, BFV 24.4 +/- 6.2% and BMC 4.5 +/- 0.4% of body weight. In the group of patients whose body weight increased more than 3 kilograms(n = 9), the increase rate of BFV was 32.3 +/- 20.2%, significantly higher than that of the other segments(p < 0.001). On the other hand, in the group of patients whose body weight decreased more than 3 kilograms(n = 5), each segment showed the same extent of decrease and there was no significant difference in the decrease rates among each segment. In the group of patients whose body weight was stable(n = 21), changes in each body composition segment were extremely small. It could be concluded that the body weight increase is due mainly to increase in BFV and body weight decrease results from a concurrent decrease in each body composition segment in peritoneal dialysis patients.