Background and Objectives: Malnutrition is one of the most common complications in patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) and is closely linked to increased morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to investigate the nutritional status of HD patients and the clinical relevance of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) parameters such as the percent body fat (PBF), skeletal muscle mass index (SMI), extracellular water-to-total body water ratio (ECW/TBW), and phase angle (PhA) in assessing malnutrition in Vietnamese HD patients. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 184 patients undergoing hemodialysis in Hanoi, Vietnam. The BIA parameters were measured by the InBody S10 body composition analyzer, while malnutrition was assessed by the geriatric nutritional risk index (GNRI), with a GNRI <92 classified as a high risk of malnutrition. The independent BIA variables for predicting malnutrition and its cut-off values were explored using logistic regression models and a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, respectively. Results: Among the study population, 42.9% (79/184) of patients were identified as being at a high risk of malnutrition. The multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that a higher ECW/TBW was independently associated with an increased risk of malnutrition, while the PBF, SMI, and PhA expressed significant and inverse associations with the malnutrition risk after adjusting for multiple confounders. The cut-off values for predicting the high risk of malnutrition in overall HD patients were determined to be 20.45%, 7.75 kg/m2, 5.45°, and 38.03% for the PBF, the SMI, the PhA, and the ECW/TBW ratio, respectively. Conclusions: BIA parameters, including the PBF, SMI, PhA, and ECW/TBW ratio, could serve as indicators of malnutrition in general Vietnamese patients with HD.
Pham et al. (2025) studied this question.