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Volume 6, Issue 3, Pages 127-133 (July 1996)


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The role of pharmaceutical agents in appetite stimulation in patients with end-stage renal disease

Jerrilynn D Burrowes, MS, RD, CS (Research Coordinator)Corresponding Author Information, Peter A Bluestone, MD (Attending Nephrologist)

Abstract 

Objective: To evaluate the potential role of appetite stimulants in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD).

Data Sources: Published literature pertaining to the nutritional status of dialysis patients and pharmaceutical agents that have been reported to stimulate appetite in patients with anorexia.

Data Synthesis: Malnutrition is prevalent in ESRD. Multiple factors including anorexia contribute to the etiology of this comorbid condition in dialysis patients. At present, nutritional strategies used in the clinical setting to treat malnutrition include both enteral and parenteral support. In other disease states in which anorexia is common, eg, advanced cancer and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), the use of some pharmaceutical agents to stimulate appetite has been effective. This article reviews these agents and their possible role in patients with ESRD.

Conclusion: The use of pharmaceutical agents to stimulate appetite may prove to be beneficial in treating dialysis patients. Further studies are needed to determine the safety and efficacy of these drugs in this population.

No full text is available. To read the body of this article, please view the PDF online.

a Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.

b Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.

Corresponding Author InformationAddress reprint requests to Jerrilynn D. Burrowes, MS, RD, CS, Research Coordinator, Division of Nephrology and Hypertension, Beth Israel Medical Center, 170 East End Ave, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10128.

PII: S1051-2276(96)90050-3


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