Muhammed Faruk AŞKIN, Yener KOÇ
Intercontinental Journal of Internal Medicine - 2026;4(3):52-59
Aims: Malnutrition is a common and important condition in hemodialysis patients, associated with increased mortality and morbidity. This study aimed to identify parameters that may be associated with the level of malnutrition in elderly hemodialysis patients and to determine the most reliable parameter for detecting malnutrition in the elderly hemodialysis patient population. Methods: This single-center, cross-sectional study evaluated 136 patients aged >=65 years who were undergoing hemodialysis across four different units. We evaluated sociodemographic characteristics, laboratory parameters, and comorbidities. The Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT), body-mass index (BMI), Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI), Malnutrition Inflammation Score (MIS), subjective global assessment (SGA), and normalized protein nitrogen appearance (nPNA) scales were applied to assess the nutritional status of patients. Results: The median age was 73 (IQR:69-77) years, hemodialysis duration was 4 (IQR:2-7) years, and BMI was 25.28 (IQR:22.08-28.39) kg/m². According to SGA, malnourished patients were older and had significantly lower abdominal skinfold thickness (ASF), triceps skinfold thickness (TSF), and waist circumference (all p<0.01). Malnutrition was detected in 22.8% of patients by BMI, 49.3% by MIS, 44.1% by SGA, 66.2% by CONUT, and 11.8% by GNRI. There was no significant difference between the malnourished and well-nourished groups regarding nPNA and hemodialysis duration (p>0.05). Conclusion: MIS was found to be near-ideal tests for detecting malnutrition in elderly hemodialysis patients. GNRI was usable in identifying the healthy population. The validity of the CONUT test was weak. When anthropometric measurements were evaluated for detecting malnutrition in elderly hemodialysis patients, TSF and ASF were close to ideal.
