Abstract:Objectives To assess the plasma levels of Acyl-ghrelin and Obestatin in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and analyze the relationships between these hormones, anthropometric parameters, energy, and protein intakes. Methods Totally 38 HD patients, 25 non-HD CKD patients, and 22 healthy subjects were enrolled into the study. Body weight, height, waist circumference (WC), skinfold measurement of biceps, triceps, subscapular, body fat percentage, biochemical parameters, plasma acyl-ghrelin and Obestatin levels were measured. Appetite and food intake were assessed. Body mass index (BMI), arm muscle area (AMA) and conicity index (CI) were recorded. Results No significant difference in age, BMI, body fat percentage, AMA, WC, and CI index among three groups were identified (P > 0.05). HD patients experienced lower levels of albumin and higher levels of urea, creatinine levels (P < 0.05) compared with non-HD patients. There was no significant difference in hemoglobin and hematocrit among groups (P > 0.05). In non-HD group, 16% had poor appetite and 4% had very poor appetites. About 85.7% of CKD patients presented a deficient energy intake in comparison to recommendation. Non-HD patients presented the highest levels of acyl-ghrel in and the lowest levels of Obestatin (P < 0.05). In contrast, HD patients presented the highest levels of Obestatin and the lowest levels of acyl-ghrelin (P < 0.05). Plasma concentration of Obestatin was negatively correlated with WC (r = -0.601, P = 0.037) and BMI (r = -0.562, P = 0.041) in healthy subjects. No relationship between appetite hormones and nutritional status, appetite or food intake was determined in CKD patients. Conclusions The Acyl-ghrelin/Obestatin ratio is significantly decreased in HD patients and increased in non-dialysis patients. Non-dialysis patients have better nutritional status than HD patients do.