Bioimpedance analysis (extracellular mass to body cell mass ratio) as complementary assessment for malnutrition in hemodialysis patients

Background: Protein energy wasting (PEW) is a frequent condition in haemodialysis patients but often goes missed. The diagnosis of PEW is complex even though composite nutritional indices seem to show strong correlations with mortality and cardiovascular events. Bioimpedance analysis in dialysis centres is used to study patient’s degree of water load but not to assess nutritional status. Recently, the extracellular mass/body cell mass ratio (ECM/BCM) ≥1.2 has also been considered as a parameter of malnutrition in the haemodialysis patients