Appetite in CAPD Patients

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

A large proportion of patients treated with conatinuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) show anthropometric and biochemical signs of malnutrition (1). Requirements of protein in CAPD patients are higher than in healthy individuals (2,3), which has been attributed, inter alia , to dialytic losses of protein and amino acids. Other factors that may enhance net protein catabolism and increase protein requirements are low energy supply, metabolic acidosis, and comorbid conditions (peritonitis, other infections, systemic disease, etc.). CAPD patients are generally recommended a protein intake of 1.2 g/kg body weight (BW)/day, i.e., much higher than the level of protein intake (0.75 g/kg BW/day) considered to be safe for 97.5% of healthy adult individuals. There is no evidence that the energy requirements of maintenance dialysis patients are different from those of healthy individuals; an intake of about 35 kcal/kg BW/day is recommended for persons not performing heavy physical exercise.