HANDGRIP STRENGTH AS A SIMPLE INDICATOR OF MALNUTRITION IN HEMODIALYSIS PATIENTS

Abstract

Handgrip strength is a simple, easily performed bedside test that has been shown to correlate with lean body mass in patients close to inception of dialysis. Objective: To assess the usefulness of handgrip strength (HGS) as a simple screening instrument for assessing malnutrition among patients on Maintenance Hemodialysis and correlate it with Subjective Global Assessment score (SGA). Methods: 50 subjects on Maintenance Hemodialysis were randomly assessed using SGA scores and their Hand Grip Strength using the HGS instrument once after the dialysis. Results: The study comprised of subjects in 3 different stages of CKD, stage III (22%), stage IV (44%), stage V (34%) among which 78% (39) were men with mean age of 51.46±13.21yr and 22% (11) were women with mean age of 60.36±14.62yr. The SGA classification showed that all the subjects (6) in severely malnourished category were of stage V whereas Very mild risk to well nourished category (15) comprised of stage III and IV. Similarly, the HGS scores were found to be 25.18±5.036 kg and 18.87±5.365 kg in CKD stage III and CKD stage V respectively. HGS was found to be directly correlated with SGA score, with statistical significance of p<0.01. Conclusion: HGS is a complementary tool for screening malnutrition in patients on Maintenance Hemodialysis.