[Nutritional profile and predictive factors of malnutrition in patient undergoing chronic hemodialysis]

The true prevalence of protein-energy malnutrition in patients undergoing long term hemodialysis is controversial due to variation in the tools used in its evaluation. We have assessed the nutritional status in patients on chronic hemodialysis at the Rabat CHU hospital and determined in them the predictive factors for malnutrition. We studied 93 patients with a mean age of 42 +/- 15 years, a sex-ratio of 0.79 and a mean duration of 92 +/- 58 months been of dialysis. We used the subjective global assessment score [SGA] to assess the nutritional status. The body mass index was 20.8 +/- 3.2 kg/m[2][15.2 - 30.8]. Serum albumin before dialysis was less than 35 g/l in 28 patients [30%] and total serum cholesterol was less than 1.5 g/l in 47 patients [51%]. Nutritional status was normal in 38 patients [40.8%, class A], there were a moderate malnutrition in 45 patients [48.4%, class B] and a severe malnutrition in 10 patients [10.8%, class C]. In univariate analysis, an older age, a low serum uric acid and a low serum phosphorus levels were significantly linked to malnutrition. In multivariate analysis, only serum phosphorus predicted malnutrition independently from other factors