Age and indices of adequacy and nutrition in CAPD patients.

We have examined the correlations of age with 95 demographic, clinical, and laboratory parameters in a continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) population. Significant inverse correlations were found with lean body mass, dialysate creatinine concentration, serum creatinine concentration, and dialysate creatinine nitrogen output in grams per week; all these findings are compatible with the well-known decrease in muscle mass with aging. Urea nitrogen output in dialysate and urine predicts Kjeldahl nitrogen output in urine and dialysate applying the Randerson equation similarly in older and younger CAPD patients. The relationship of normalized net protein catabolic rate to weekly urea clearance normalized to total body water is similar for older and younger CAPD patients. Older and younger patients have similar values for serum albumin concentration. In conclusion, the findings suggest that comparable weekly creatinine clearances should yield much lower serum creatinine concentrations in older patients. Poor protein intakes in the elderly should not be attributed to age if weekly urea clearances are low. Increases in protein intake in response to increases in urea clearances are similar in older and younger CAPD patients.