Alcohol and Alcoholism Advance Access originally published online on February 29, 2008
Alcohol and Alcoholism 2008 43(3):314-319; doi:10.1093/alcalc/agn011
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Prognostic value of nutritional status in alcoholics, assessed by double-energy X-ray absorptiometry
Servicios de Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitario de Canarias (HUC), Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands 38320, Spain
1 Servicios de Medicina Interna and Medicina Nuclear, Hospital Universitario de Canarias (HUC), Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands 38320, Spain
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitario de Canarias (HUC), Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands 38320 Spain. Tel.: 34 922 678640; Fax: 34 922 319279; E-mail: egonrey{at}ull.es
Received 17 December 2007; first review notified 3 January 2008; in revised form 12 January 2008; accepted 21 January 2008
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Abstract |
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Objectives: This study was performed in order to assess nutritional status of 77 alcoholic patients. Methods: Patients underwent a total body double-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) analysis, with estimation of lean and fat mass at different parts of the body. Results: Lean mass, but not fat mass, was significantly reduced among alcoholics, compared to 31 age-matched controls, especially at right arm, legs, and total body. Lean mass at both arms was significantly related to liver function parameters (albumin, prothrombin activity, bilirubin) and, inversely, with ethanol consumption. The 24 patients who died during a follow-up period of 88 months showed less lean mass at both arms, trunk, and left leg, and also less fat at the left arm, than survivors. When right and left arm lean mass were classified in quartiles, Kaplan–Meier curves showed significant differences between dead and survivors. Left arm lean mass was the parameter which was independently related to mortality when encephalopathy was not included in a stepwise Cox regression analysis, but was displaced by this last parameter when it was also introduced in the analysis. Conclusion: lean mass is reduced in alcoholics, is related to liver function derangement and ethanol consumption, and is related to mortality.