American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 44, 66-69, Copyright © 1986 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Nutritional status of diabetic and nondiabetic patients after renal transplantation

DG Miller, SE Levine, JA D'Elia and BR Bistrian

To assess whether there was improvement in the nutritional status of Type I insulin-dependent diabetics treated with renal transplantation as compared with dialysis, 24 diabetics and 21 nondiabetics were studied 22.6 +/- 23.8 mo after transplantation. Nutritional assessment included weight, height, triceps skinfold thickness, midarm muscle circumference (MAMC), serum albumin, and transferrin. Mean age of the 28 males and 17 females was 37.1 +/- 9.4 yr. Weight of diabetics increased from 55.6 +/- 8.4 kg to 61.5 +/- 9.5 kg (p less than 0.05); weight for height, from 81 +/- 8% to 95 +/- 9% (p less than 0.001); and serum albumin, from 3.8 +/- 0.5 gm/dl to 4.3 +/- 0.4 gm/dl (p less than 0.001). Weight also increased significantly in nondiabetics from 64.5 +/- 10.5 kg to 72.1 +/- 13.5 kg (p = 0.05); weight for height, from 96 +/- 15% to 108 +/- 16% (p less than 0.05); but not albumin, 4.1 +/- 0.7 gm/dl to 4.4 +/- 0.6 gm/dl (p greater than 0.05). Serum transferrin was 210 +/- 62 mg/dl in diabetics and 226 +/- 52 mg/dl in nondiabetics. Forty-two percent of diabetics and 29% of nondiabetics had a MAMC less than 5th percentile, indicating protein-calorie malnutrition. Results suggest a significant improvement in nutritional status after transplantation in both diabetics and nondiabetics, but particularly in the diabetic group.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. L. KASISKE, M. A. VAZQUEZ, W. E. HARMON, R. S. BROWN, G. M. DANOVITCH, R. S. GASTON, D. ROTH, J. D. SCANDLING JR., and G. G. SINGER Recommendations for the Outpatient Surveillance of Renal Transplant Recipients J. Am. Soc. Nephrol., October 1, 2000; 11 (90001): S1 - S86. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]