RESEARCH ARTICLE Body Mass Index, Mortality, and Gender Difference in Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease

Background and Aim A higher body mass index (BMI) appears to be reversely associated with mortality in dialysis patients. Moreover, although women have better survival in chronic kidney disease (CKD), this survival advantage is cancelled in dialysis. The association between BMI and mortality and the gender difference remain controversial in advanced CKD. Methods This study enrolled 3,320 patients (1,938 men and 1,382 women) from southern Taiwan who had CKD stages 3–5 with a BMI of 15.0–35.0 kg/m2. Results During a median 2.9-year follow-up, there were 328 (16.9%) all-cause mortality and 319 (16.5%) cardiovascular (CV) events and death in male patients, 213 (15.4%) all-cause mor-tality and 224 (16.2%) CV events and death in female patients. Compared with the refer-ence BMI of 27.6–30.0 kg/m2 in an adjusted Cox model, lower-BMI groups in men, BMI 15.0–20.0 kg/m2 and 20.1–22.5 kg/m2, were associated with higher risks of all-cause mor