[Cachexia during dialysis].

In the Italian language, the term cachexia is a rather picturesque synonym of "marasma senile", "senile marasmus", an old definition involving not only old-age, but specifically senility, the end of the ageing process and marasmus, a stagnant and hopeless situation in which all superior organised functions have disappeared. The problem of cachexia during dialysis is complex and several discordant opinions exist at this regard, partly accounted by different definitions of this sluggish entity (or non entity). Actually, the basic question is very simple: is cachexia the cause or the effect of failure of dialysis treatment? The aim of this study was an evaluation of epidemiological data from the Dialysis and Transplantation Registry of Piedmont, a northern Italian Region with about 4,350,000 inhabitants, 22 public dialysis Centers, open acceptance to dialysis since the mid seventies, a multiple choice dialysis system developed in the eighties. In the period 1981-1995, 764 patients died in conditions of cachexia. This figure is 20.9% of all deaths recorded, 27.4% over age 65 and 34.7% over age 75. Despite a likewise significant increase in age and presence of comorbid factors, an improvement of patients survival, that reach statistical significance in the old age group (> or = 65 yrs), was observed.