Decreased intracellular water is associated with sarcopenic obesity in chronic haemodialysis patients

Abstract Objective To explore the association between intracellular water (ICW) and sarcopenic obesity in patients undergoing chronic haemodialysis (HD). Methods A multicentre, cross-sectional study of 3354 adult chronic HD patients was conducted in 20 haemodialysis centres from June 1, 2021, to August 30, 2021. The diagnosis of sarcopenic obesity was made according to the revised Asian Working Group’s definition of sarcopenia combined with obesity per the body fat percentage definition. Body composition was evaluated by a body composition monitor using bioimpedance spectroscopy. Multiple logistic regression models, stratified analyses, interactive analyses, and receiver-operating characteristic analyses were conducted. Results A total of 752 patients were diagnosed with sarcopenic obesity among 3354 participants. The patients were grouped by sex-specific ICW median levels, and the prevalence of sarcopenic obesity was significantly higher in the low ICW group than in the high ICW group (41.3%vs 3.0%). Decreased ICW was significantly associated with sarcopenic obesity. The association remained statistically significant even after adjusting for dialysis vintage, age, body mass index, biochemical indicators, and various medical histories. The odds ratios of the low ICW group were much higher than those of the high ICW group in both males and females (P for trend