G-4505

Beyond the waistline: Abdominal fat indicators as predictors of muscle strength in hemodialysis patients: A sex-specific analysis

 Fatemeh Navab ¹ © ℗, Farnaz Shahdadian ², Mohammad Hossein Rouhani ³   

 
Abstract

Background and Aims: Muscle strength is a critical indicator of health status in hemodialysis (HD) patients. CKD patients often have altered body composition, where obesity and muscle wasting frequently coexist. Meanwhile, the relationship between anthropometric indicators of visceral obesity and muscle strength remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the association between abdominal volume index (AVI) and conicity index (CI), as measures of visceral fat, with hand grip strength (HGS) in these patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 326 hemodialysis patients were recruited according to predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Anthropometric indices, including AVI and CI, were measured following standard protocols. Muscle strength was assessed using HGS. Demographic, medical, and dialysis-related data were also collected. Statistical analyses included both descriptive and inferential methods. Results: An inverse association between CI and HGS was observed in women (B: -25.62, P = 0.01), whereas no significant relationship was found in men (P 0.05). Conversely, AVI was positively associated with HGS in men (B: 0.50, P = 0.01) but not in women (P 0.05). Conclusion: These findings indicate a sex-specific relationship between visceral obesity and muscle strength in HD patients; higher CI is linked to lower muscle strength in females, while greater AVI is associated with higher muscle strength in males. Further studies are warranted to confirm these observations.

Keywords: Abdominal volume index, conicity index, dialysis, muscle strength, visceral