Prognostic value of nutritional status in alcoholics, assessed by double-energy X-ray absorptiometry

Abstract

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. © The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Medical Council on Alcohol. All rights reserved.