Body composition and solute kinetics in hemodialysis patients: a mathematical model

Dialysis patients with high body mass index (BMI) experience survival advantages as compared to dialysis patients with low BMI. Preliminary modelling results seem to confirm the dependence of survival probabilities on BMI, but also show that BMI is a too crude measure. The simulation results strongly indicate that body composition instead of BMI is the important factor. The purpose of this study is to confirm these findings by simulations with a mathematical model using concrete data concerning body composition. In addition, the authors present the results of a sensitivity analysis for the parameters of the model, which are confirmed by the results of parameter estimation procedures.