Screening of nutritional risk and nutritional support in general surgery patients: a survey from Shanghai, China

To determine the prevalence of nutritional risk in surgical departments and to evaluate the impact of nutritional support on clinical outcomes. The nutritional risk in different surgical diseases and the different way of nutritional support on clinical outcomes in patients at nutritional risk remain unclear. Hospitalized patients from general surgical departments were screened using the Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS) 2002 questionnaire on admission. Data were collected on nutritional risk, complications, and length of stay (LOS). Overall, 5034 patients were recruited; the overall prevalence of nutritional risk on admission were 19.2%. The highest prevalence was found among patients with gastric cancer. At-risk patients had more complications and longer LOS than nonrisk patients. Of the at-risk patients, the complication rate was significantly lower and LOS was significantly shorter in the nutritional-support group than in the no-support group (20.9 versus 30.0%, P < 0.05). Subgroup analysis showed reduced complication rates and LOS only in patients with gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, and hepato-pancreato-biliary (HPB) cancer. Significantly lower complication rates relative to nonsupported patients were found among patients who received enteral nutrition or who received support for 5 to 7 days, or daily support entailing 16 to 25 kcal/kg of nonprotein energy. Different surgical diseases have different levels of nutritional risk. The provision of nutritional support was associated with a lower complication rate and a shorter LOS for gastric, colorectal, and HPB cancer patients at nutritional risk. The improper use of nutritional support may not improve outcomes for at-risk patients.