Work

Frailty and Protein-Energy Wasting in Elderly Patients with End Stage Kidney Disease

Year: 2012

Type: review

Abstract: Older people constitute an increasingly greater proportion of patients with advanced CKD, including those patients undergoing maintenance dialysis treatment. Frailty is a biologic syndrome of decreased reserve and resistance to stressors that results from cumulative declines across multiple physiologic systems and causes vulnerability to adverse outcomes. Frailty is common in elderly CKD patients, and it may be associated with protein-energy wasting (PEW), sarcopenia, dynapenia, and other complications of CKD. Causes of frailty with or without PEW in the elderly with CKD can be classified into three categories: causes primarily caused by aging per se, advanced CKD per se, or a combination of both conditions. Frailty and PEW in elderly CKD patients are associated with impaired physical performance, disability, poorer quality of life, and reduced survival. Prevention and treatment of these conditions in the elderly CKD patients often require a multifaceted approach. Here, we examine the causes and consequences of these conditions and examine the interplay between frailty and PEW in elderly CKD patients.

Source: Journal of the American Society of Nephrology

DOI: 10.1681/asn.2012010047

Authors: Jun Chul Kim, Kamyar Kalantar-Zadeh, Joel D. Kopple

Institutions: University of California, Los Angeles, The Lundquist Institute, CHA University, Harbor–UCLA Medical Center, CHA Gumi Hospital

Language: English

Topic: Dialysis and Renal Disease Management

Subfield: Nephrology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases