Malnutrition in hospitalized patients receiving nutritionally complete menus: prevalence and outcomes

The prevalence of malnutrition in hospitals ranges from 20 to 50% and the hospital diet could be a potential risk factor. The aim of the study was to determine the overall and per services prevalence of hospital malnutrition, and assess its impact on clinical outcomes in patients receiving nutritionally complete menus.

Cross-sectional study in a university hospital. Nutritional status was assessed using Subjective Global Assessment (SGA), anthropometry, and biochemical parameters. For the assessment of outcomes during hospitalization, length of stay, rate of deaths, and readmissions were collected.

201 patients were evaluated. The median age was 71.59 (IQR 21.43) years old, and 51.20% were women. According to the results obtained by SGA, 37.8% of individuals were well nourished (WN), 50.2% were at nutritional risk (NR), and 11.9% were malnourished (MN). The prevalence of malnourished (NR+MN) was higher in oncology-hematology and medical wards (80.0% and 70.5%) than in surgical ones (52.4%) (p = 0.047). The worse nutritional status was, the longer the length of stay [WN: 8.0 (IQR 8.0) days; NR: 12.0 (IQR 13.5) days; MN: 18.5 (IQR 18.5) days, p < 0.001).

The prevalence of malnutrition in the evaluated hospital was very high, being particularly striking in medical services, and doubling length of stay.