Next Steps for the Propionic Acidemia Nutrition Guidelines

Elaina Jurecki MS, RD and Keiko Ueda, MPH, RD, PROP Workgroup Chairs

The Propionic Acidemia (PROP) workgroup has successfully completed the development of the Nutrition Management Guideline for PROP, a collaborative effort between Genetic Metabolic Dietitians International (GMDI) and the Southeast Regional Genetics Network (SERN)*.  Any recommendations, such as these, are not effective unless there are tools to help implement them. The next step is to develop a tool kit to help support this endeavor. The PROP tool kit will provide practical examples for metabolic dietitians and other clinicians to apply the Nutrition Guidelines in caring for their patients living with propionic acidemia.  We aim for the PROP toolkit to be available by Spring 2018 on the Nutrition Guidelines webpage via: southeastgenetics.org or gmdi.org.  We also plan for the PROP Nutrition Guideline manuscript to be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed medical journal by the end of this year.

In February 2017, the Nutrition Guidelines Core group and PROP Workgroup Chairs had a meeting with patient advocates representing PAF and the Organic Acidemia Association (OAA).   It was determined that a Summary Sheet with an accompanying Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) sheet would be helpful for patients, families and caregivers living with PROP.

The Summary Sheet is a one-page list of things to consider and discuss with your metabolic team. This summary is not meant to provide medical advice. Some items addressed in the summary include when to contact your metabolic clinic, certain medications to consider, suggestions for sick day instructions, and what laboratory and physical assessments should be followed.  The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) sheet includes questions addressing such things as: Nutrient Intake (i.e. How much protein can I handle?)  and Supplements (i.e. Do I need isoleucine or valine supplements?). Other topics are Blood Monitoring, Illness, Liver Transplant and Pregnancy. Both the Summary and FAQ Sheets are resources that you can bring to clinic appointments to help identify topics to discuss about your/your child’s care. They can also be helpful in informing family and friends about PROP.

In June 2017 at the PAF Warrior Wisdom Conference in Deerfield, IL; the initial drafts of the PROP Summary and FAQ sheets were presented by Keiko Ueda and Amie Thompson, RD, LD, PROP Workgroup member to parents, adults living with PROP, PROP medical experts and researchers.  We received valuable feedback from participants that has been shared with our Nutrition Guidelines Core group to help update and improve the Summary and FAQ Sheets. We hope to finalize these tools and have them available on the PROP Nutritional Guidelines website in the near future. We greatly appreciated the opportunity to attend the 2017 PAF conference and network with families, PROP dietitians, medical experts and researchers.  We gained valuable insights from parents and patients living with PROP from their questions and challenges raised by implementation of the PROP Nutrition Guidelines.   

Consumer input is very helpful as we continue to develop tools to optimize nutritional management for individuals living with propionic acidemia (PROP/PA). If you would like to review and provide feedback as well as ask questions about the PROP Nutritional Guidelines, please visit the PROP Nutritional Guidelines webpage and fill out the feedback and comments form. Thank you!

*GMDI/SERN Nutrition Guideline Development is a HRSA Supported Partnership — Grant #UH7MC3077