The baseline characteristics of the 41 women and 66 men
enrolled in the study are listed in Table 1. Baseline characteristics
did not significantly differ between men and women. The mean
age was 65 _ 1.4 y and mean BMI was 23.2 _ 0.5 kg/m2 with
different underlying diseases. Most of the patients included in
the study (64.5%) suffered from malignant disease, predominantly
of the gastrointestinal tract. In 13% acute (four patients) or
chronic (nine patients) pancreatitis was the underlying cause of
hospitalization. Eight patients suffered from liver cirrhosis; five
showed acute or chronic renal failure. Other diseases (9.3%) were
chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, short bowel syndrome, or
gastroenteritis.