Malnutrition- inflammation- atherosclerosis syndrome in chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease is becoming a major health problem globally and in India an alarming number of about 8 million people are suffering from this disease. Patients undergoing hemodialysis have a high prevalence of protein-energy malnutrition and inflammation. As these two conditions often occur concomitantly in hemodialysis patients, they have been referred together as 'malnutrition-inflammation-atherosclerosis syndrome' to emphasize the important association with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The three factors related to the pathophysiology in these patients are dialysis related nutrient loss, increased protein catabolism and hypoalbuminemia. Inflammation in Chronic Kidney disease is the most important factor in the genesis of several complications in renal disease. Pro-inflammatory cytokines like IL-1 and TNF -alpha play a major role in the onset of metabolic alterations in Chronic Kidney disease patients. Atherosclerosis is a very frequent complication in uremia due to the coexistence of hypertension, hyperhomocysteinemia, inflammation, malnutrition and increased oxidative stress, generation of advanced glycation end products, advanced oxidation protein products, hyperlipidemia and altered structural and functional ability of HDL. LDL-cholesterol, apolipoprotein (A), apolipoprotein (B), and Lp(a) are also associated with atherosclerosis. Studies have now provided enormous data to enable the evaluation of the severity of malnutrition-inflammation-atherosclerosis syndrome as well as effective monitoring of these patients.