Subjective global assessment: a reliable nutritional assessment tool to predict outcomes in critically ill patients

Nutritional assessment of critically ill patients has created controversy. However, it is well established that malnourished patients who are severely ill have worse outcomes than well-nourished patients. Therefore, assessing patients' nutritional status may be useful in predicting which patients may experience increased morbidity and mortality.

One hundred eighty-five consecutively admitted patients were followed until discharge or death, and their nutritional status was evaluated using Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) as well as anthropometric and laboratory methods. Agreement between the methods was measured using the Kappa coefficient.

Malnutrition was highly prevalent (54%), according to SGA. Malnourished patients had significantly higher rates of readmission to the intensive care unit (ICU) (OR 2.27; CI 1.08-4.80) and mortality (OR 8.12; CI 2.94-22.42). The comparison of SGA with other tests used to assess nutritional status showed that the correlation between the methods ranged from poor to superficial.

SGA, an inexpensive and quick nutritional assessment method conducted at the bedside, is a reliable tool for predicting outcomes in critically ill patients.