The Obesity Paradox: A Further Consideration in Dialysis Patients

Overview

Journal Semin Dial

Specialty Nephrology

Date 2019 Jul 25

PMID 31338891

Citations 19

Authors

Piyawan Kittiskulnam

Kirsten L Johansen

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Several epidemiological cohorts have demonstrated that higher body mass index (BMI) is associated with lower mortality risk among patients receiving hemodialysis. However, BMI may be an inaccurate indicator of nutritional status among dialysis patients because it does not differentiate between muscle and fat mass or provide information about body fat distribution. More sophisticated methods of body composition analysis are therefore required to address the question of which component is associated with greater survival. Recent evidence has also shown that changes in body weight and body composition are more strongly associated with mortality in dialysis patients than measurement of BMI at a single time point. Given that obesity is common among the dialysis population, weight loss interventions are encouraged for obese dialysis patients who are on a transplant waiting list in order to increase the access for transplantation.

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