Nutrition 30 (2014) 731–732

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Nutrition

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Letters to the Editor Comment on “Body shape index and Re: Comment on “Body shape index mortality in hemodialysis patients” and mortality in hemodialysis patients” To the Editor: We read with interest the study by Afsar et al. [1], reporting To the Editor: that body shape index (BSI) was not associated with mortality We thank Safer et al. [1] for the valuable concerns about our in hemodialysis patients. We consider their results of particular article published in Nutrition [2]. First, Dr. Safer mentioned that importance, but we believe that the following issues in the re- we did not report mortality and loss in follow-up rate. As can be ported results need to be clarified. seen in the article, we reported on this issue and we stated that First, Afsar et al. did not report mortality and loss in follow-up during an average follow-up period of 40.1 19.2 mo (range 12– rate of the study sample. Similarly, no power analysis was re- 88 mo), 36 (25.4%) patients had died. We also mentioned the ported. Therefore, we do not know whether the present study causes of death. Additionally, power analysis is not applicable had sufficient power to generate true results. to this kind of study because this was the firsttimethatbody Second, in the article by Afsar et al., BSI was calculated by waist shape index (BSI) was analyzed in patients on hemodialysis circumference (WC)/body mass index (BMI)2/3 height1/2.How- and, to our knowledge, no previous data was reported on this ever, Afsar et al. reported no correlation between BSI and height issue. whereas a previous study [2] reported that BSI was correlated Second, it was stated that BSI was not correlated with height. with height in the general population. Afsar et al. did not discuss Indeed, this is not an obligation because BSI calculation uses not these contrasting results. only height but also waist circumference (WC) and body mass in- Third, inconsistency of data in the study may raise some dex (BMI) and only the square root of height was used. This is the concern. For example, participants’ sex was reported in Table 2 logic of BSI that although BMI and WC are highly correlated, they as 76 males and 66 females, whereas the same table also re- are used in the same formula. If all the anthropometric parame- ported that 134 females and 8 males had a transplantation his- ters should correlate with each other, we would not have to tory. Moreover, in the methodology it was clearly stated that observe the discriminative effects of different anthropometric patients with a history of renal transplantation were excluded measures on outcomes. from the study, but according to Table 2 all participants of this Third, we thank Safer et al. for spotting that there is inconsis- study had a transplantation history. tency of data in Table 2. This is simply a typing error and it is We believe that these points need to be addressed by the au- very obvious that according to Table 2 all patients had a trans- thors to clarify the reported results. plantation history (134 male, 8 female patients), which was not References the case. This line showing transplantation history was intro- duced incorrectly and indeed must be deleted. The same mistake [1] Afsar B, Elsurer R, Kirkpantur A. Body shape index and mortality in hemodi- was also made in Table 4, which shows the presence of trans- alysis patients. Nutrition 2013;29:1214–8. plantation history (M/F): 3/68 in group 1: BSI < 0.0816 (n ¼ [2] Krakauer NY, Krakauer JC. A new body shape index predicts mortality hazard > ¼ independently of body mass index. PLoS One 2012;7:e39504. 71) and 5/66 in group 2: BSI 0.0816 (n 71). Thus, it is again obvious that according to Table 4 all patients had undergone Umut Safer, M.D. renal transplantation, which was not the case. Again, this line Department of Geriatrics, Gulhane School of Medicine showing transplantation history was introduced incorrectly in Ankara, Turkey Table 4 and indeed should be deleted. As mentioned in the meth- Vildan Binay Safer, M.D. odology, no patients with a transplantation history were Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation included in the study. Ankara Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation We are very sorry for these errors. Indeed, after we became Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey aware of them, an erratum was submitted to the editorial office. Thus, we again thank Safer et al. for giving us an fi http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2013.12.015 opportunity to x the errors and for their interest in our article.

0899-9007/$ - see front matter Ó 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 732 Letters to the Editor / Nutrition 30 (2014) 731–732

References Baris Afsar, M.D. Department of Medicine [1] Safer U, Safer VB. Re: Body shape index and mortality in hemodialysis pa- Division of Nephrology tients. Nutrition; 2014. [2] Afsar B, Elsurer R, Kirkpantur A. Body shape index and mortality in hemodi- Konya Numune State Hospital alysis patients. Nutrition 2013;29:1214–8. Konya, Turkey http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2013.12.012

Erratum

Re. Effects of fried potato chip supplementation on mouse pregnancy and fetal development, by Hassan I. El-Sayyad Ph.D., et al.; published in Volume 27, Issue 3 of Nutrition (March 2011, page 343): An error has been detected regarding the information reported in Table 1. Both the table and the related text in the article indicated that acrylamide doses were 25 mg/kg; it should have read 30 mg/kg. The table and the text below reflect the correct doses. Revised text in Materials and Methods: Group 1 (n ¼ 40) consisted of mice treated with ACR (Sigma Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, USA). Each mouse received a daily dose at 30 mg/ kg of body weight dissolved in a 0.2-mL saline solution, which was given orally by stomach tube to pregnant mice from day 6 of gesta- tion until parturition. Revised Table: Table 1 Description of different groups and their respective diets

Animal group Food supplemented during study Control (n – 20) Standard diet* ACR (n – 40) Standard diet* þ ACR (30 mg/kg body weight in 0.2 mL of saline) FPC (n – 20) Standard diet* þ approx. 30% FPC

ACR, acrylamide; FPC, fried potato chips * Standard diet consisted of 50% ground barley, 10% ground yellow maize, 20% milk, and 10% vegetable.

We regret, and take responsibility for, the unfortunate error. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2014.03.001 DOI of original article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2010.11.005