SUN-108 DIARRHOEA AND OTHER GI SYMPTOM PREVALENCE IN STABLE RENAL TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS IS NOT RELATED TO DIET QUALITY

Abstract

In renal transplant recipients chronic diarrhoea is the most commonly reported GI symptom1 however is likely to be higher in the early post-transplant period than in stable renal transplant recipients but little data exists in this cohort. A recent scoping review by our group looking at dietary intakes or the impact of dietary interventions such as dietary fibre, prebiotics or probiotics on diarrhoea in renal transplant recipients found very few studies. In addition, very few studies have reported quantitative nutrient or qualitative food intake data in renal transplant recipients. The aim of this study was to assess prevalence and severity of diarrhoea and other GI symptoms in stable renal transplant recipients and compare to markers of diet quality. Adult renal transplant recipients transplanted between September 2016 and March 2018 were recruited from Central Northern Adelaide Renal and Transplantation Service, SA, Australia. Detailed demographic and clinical characteristics were collected and all participants were asked to complete the gastrointestinal symptom rating scale (GSRS), Bristol Stool Chart (BSC) & short Food Frequency Questionnaire (sFFQ). We used sFFQ serves of fruit, vegetable, legumes and wholegrain breads and cereals data to create a composite diet quality (DQ) score. The median was used to divide the cohort into lower and higher diet quality groups for analysis. STATA 15.1 was used for Chi squared and Fishers exact tests to analyse stool frequency, stool consistency and GSRS symptoms and domains by diet quality. Thirty-five patients stable renal transplant recipients (24 male: 11 female, mean age 54years (27-78yrs), mean 14 months post renal transplant) were included. Overall diet quality was low (mean 4.9 serves per day out of maximum 8.5). Table 1 shows key food group intakes were well below targets (2 fruit, 4-5 vegetables, 3-4 wholegrains per day, legumes more than once per week) for healthy eating after renal transplant2 Table 2 shows there was no significant difference in stool frequency, consistency or GSRS domains between lower and higher diet quality groups. The WHO defines diarrhoea as the passage of 3 or more loose or liquid stools per day*. Using this definition, Table 3 shows 8.5% of our cohort had diarrhoea. Table 3: Prevalence of diarrhoeaView Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download (PPT)View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download (PPT) - Diet quality overall was much lower than recommended for nutritional management after renal transplant with low intakes of fruit, vegetables, legumes and wholegrains reported.