A B S T R A C T ObjectiveTo assess the prevalence of malnutrition and associated factors in hemodialysis patients.
MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study of 344 hemodialysis patients from Goiânia, Goiás aged 18 years or more. The dependent variable, malnutrition, was investigated by the Subjective Global Assessment. The independent variables included socioeconomic, demographic, and lifestyle data, clinical history, and energy and protein intakes. The patients underwent anthropometric measurements and laboratory tests. Multiple Poisson regression determined the associated factors (p<0.05).
ResultsMild or moderate malnutrition was found in 22.4% of the patients. Malnourished patients had lower body mass index, mid-arm muscle circumference, percentage of body fat, serum creatinine (p<0.001), and normalized protein nitrogen appearance (p=0.001). Multivariate analysis identified the following factors associated with malnutrition: age between 19 and 29 years (PR=1.23, 95%CI=1.06-1.43), family income less than 2 minimum salaries (PR=1.13, 95%CI=1.01-1.27), hemodialysis vintage ≥60 months (PR=1.08, 95%CI=1.01-1.16), Kt/V≥1.2 (RP=1.12, 95%CI=1.03-1.22), calorie intake <35 kcal/kg/day (PR=1.22, 95%CI=1.10-1.34), and normalized protein nitrogen appearance <1.0 g/kg/day (PR=1.13, 95%CI=1.05-1.21).