The Effect of Gender and Age on Nutritional Status of Hemodialysis Patients

Purpose: To find out whether gender or age affect the nutritional status of hemodialysis patients. Design and Methods: This is a cross-over study. 107 hemodialysis (HD) subjects were recruited from Wanfang Hospital and Taipei Medical University Hospital in 2010. All subjects had hemodialysis treatment at least 3 months. The data of demographic, anthropometric and laboratory were collected. Body mass index (BMI), Serum albumin, creatinine, and geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI) score were used as nutrition marker. Results: There was no significantly different level of all nutrition markers between male and female patients. Subjects in the high tertile of age (> 70 years) had significantly lower BMI, GNRI score, level of serum albumin and creatinine than the low tertile of age (≤ 55 years, p< 0.05). Conclusion: Patients older than 70 years old with hemodialysis treatment have higher malnutrition risk, and need careful nutrition monitoring and implementation of nutrition care.