Introduction:

Abdominal fat and its increment over time in particular has become a cardiovascular risk factor in uraemic patients.

Objectives:

To analyse changes in abdominal fat in haemodialysis patients over one year and study their possible correlation with the variation in adipocytokine serum levels. As a secondary objective, we tried to validate the data obtained by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) with data obtained by dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA).

Material and methods:

A prospective one-year study was performed in 18 patients on haemodialysis (HD). In each patient, body composition by BIA and DXA was estimated at baseline and after one year. Several adipocytokine and biochemical parameters were determined.

Results:

A significant increase in phase angle [4.8° (4.1-5.6) vs. 5.2° (4.4-5.8), P < .05], BIA intracellular water [48.3% (43.1-52.3) vs. 50.3% (45.7-53.4), P < .05] and the ratio between the percentage of android/gynecoid (A/G) distribution of fat measured by DXA [1.00 (0.80-1.26) vs. 1.02 (0.91-1.30), P < .05] was observed. A statistically significant relationship between leptin and adiponectin concentrations and the percentage of fat mass measured by BIA, as well as the abdominal fat percentage estimated by DXA, was found (P < .01).

Conclusion:

HD patients exhibit a gain in fat mass over time, especially in the abdomen, evidenced by an increased A/G ratio. These findings might explain the increased cardiovascular risk in these patients.