P095 - WAIST-TO-HEIGHT RATIO AND MORTALITY IN INDIVIDUALS UNDERGOING HEMODIALYSIS

P095

WAIST-TO-HEIGHT RATIO AND MORTALITY IN INDIVIDUALS UNDERGOING HEMODIALYSIS

L. B. Leandro¹, L. P. Klippel^2,*, C. A. Martins³, K. S. Barbosa¹, E. H. Furtado ⁴, E. S. Neto³, L. B. Salaroli²

¹Integrated Health Education, ²Graduate Program in Nutrition and Health, ³Graduate Program in Collective Health, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, ⁴Physiological Sciences, Universidade Federal do Maranhão, Vitória, Brazil

Rationale: Abdominal obesity has increased among individuals on hemodialysis and is associated with fat accumulation to the detriment of lean mass. Waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) is a sensitive method for diagnosing abdominal obesity, allowing the detection of fat accumulation even in individuals with a normal BMI.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional study that included 327 individuals who died between 2019 and 2022. Sociodemographic and clinical data were extracted from a database of a study carried out in 2019. Mortality data were obtained through death certificates registered in the Mortality Information System. WHtR was obtained through the ratio between waist circumference and height, considering the abdominal obesity cutoff point ≥0.5 for men and women. To check whether there was a difference in proportions between the independent variables and the outcome, Pearson’s chi-square test was used, and when the expected values ​​in the table cells were less than five, Fisher's exact test was used.

Results: The main cause of death was cardiovascular disease (32.7%) followed by diseases of the genitourinary system (15.3%) and diabetes (15%). Furthermore, age group was associated with WHtR, demonstrating that abdominal obesity was more frequent among the elderly (47.40%; p < 0.001), retired individuals (47.69%, p = 0.027) and those with income between 1 and 2 minimum wages (p = 0.004). Moreover, abdominal obesity was seen more evidently in individuals with diabetes (p < 0.001). Among those considered eutrophic by arm muscle circumference, most of them had increased WHtR (p < 0.001). 

Conclusion: According to the results, 8 out of 10 individuals who died had abdominal obesity. In this sense, the WHtR can be used as a complementary indicator in the nutritional assessment and screening of hemodialysis patients.

Disclosure of Interest: None declared