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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #68462
Title: BODY COMPOSITION OF HIV INFECTED MALE ADULTS WITH WASTING SYNDROME

Author
item Ellis, Kenneth
item SHYPAILO, ROMAN - BAYLOR COLL OF MEDICINE
item PIVARNIK, JIM - BAYLOR COLL OF MEDICINE
item JENKS, BELINDA - BAYLOR COLL OF MEDICINE
item WALZEL, PAUL - BAYLOR COLL OF MEDICINE
item LEE, PHILIP - BAYLOR COLL OF MEDICINE

Submitted to: Asia Pacific Journal Clinical Nurtition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/1995
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Chronic weight loss is a common with HIV-infection. Lean tissues, mainly from muscles and vital organs, is lost. When this loss is greater than 25%, many of these subjects do not survive. Accurate assessment of the subject's lean tissue can be made with high-tech measurements available only in large regional medical centers. We wanted to determine if body dimension measurements could provide an appropriate alternate assessment for this population when it is the only technology available. We found that reasonable estimates of the lean tissue mass were obtained using a combination of the body mass index ( weight/height2), circumference of the upper arm, and measurement of the triceps skinfold thickness.

Technical Abstract: Chronic weight loss is a common characteristic of HIV infection; its full etiology remains unknown. We report body composition measurements for 39 adult males with wt loss ò10% or a body mass index (BMI) below 19.8 Kg ú m -2 while receiving stable antiretroviral therapy, and no recent history of opportunitic infection, malignancy, Kaposi sarcoma, or therapy with anabolic agents. CD4+ counts ranged from 2 to 531; 30 subjects having counts ,ó200. Body composition was measured by 40K counting, dural-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and anthropometry. The reference body composition measures were total body potassium (TBK), lean tissue mass (LEAN), fat mass (FAT), and percentage body fat (%FAT). In addition, nutritional assessment was based on a 2-d food diary. The mean TBK was 90.2% +/- 10.8% of normal controls, while the %FAT averaged only 14.4% +/-5.3%, also below the normal range. Reasonable estimates of these body composition compartments were obtained using a combination of BMI, mid-arm circumference (MAC), and triceps skinfold measurements (TSF).