A Prospective Review of Preoperative Nutritional Status and Its Influence on the Outcome of Abdominal Surgery

Aim To assess the incidence of malnutrition in a surgical gastroenterology unit and analyze its impact on postoperative complication rates. Method Data were prospectively accrued from patients admitted for emergency or elective surgery to the gastrointestinal surgery unit at Jaslok Hospital between May 2013 and May 2014. The nutritional status was preoperatively assessed by using anthropometric parameters like body mass index (BMI), midarm circumference (MAC), and tissue skinfold thickness (TSFT). In addition, a subjective global assessment scale (SGA), serum albumin, and absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) were used. Patients with BMI <18.5, MAC <24 cm in males and <22 cm in females, and TSFT <10 mm were considered malnourished. Patients with serum albumin between 3 and 3.5 g/dl were considered mild, 2.4-2.9 g/dl was moderate, and <2.4 g/dl were severely malnourished. Patients with ALC between 1200 and 2000/cm were labelled mild, between 800 and 1199/cm were moderate, and <800/cm were severely malnourished. As per SGA, well-nourished had less than 5% weight loss or if more than 5%, with recent gain and improved appetite, mild/moderately malnourished had 5% to 10% weight loss with no gain, mild subcutaneous fat loss, and those severely malnourished had more than 10% weight loss, severe subcutaneous fat loss, and muscle wasting. Postoperative complications were graded as per the Clavien-Dindo classification. Patients with grades 1 and 2 complications were labelled as minor and the rest as major. Result Men in the age group of 40-60 years comprised the majority of the study population. The most frequent reason for admission was cholelithiasis. The overall incidence of malnutrition was 22.16%. Out of the 96 patients who had complications, 45 had minor and 41 had significant complications. Amongst the well-nourished, the incidence of complications was 26.62% of which the majority were minor complications. Severely malnourished patients had a high complication rate (63.38%); 32% out of the 63.38% developed significant complications. The majority of the patients suffering from severe malnutrition belonged to the sub-group with chronic pancreatitis and carcinoma of the pancreas. According to the chi-square analysis of the data, ALC, serum albumin, and SGA correlate with the postoperative complication rate with a p-value <0.05 as significant. On the contrary, BMI, MAC, and TSFT did not correlate with postoperative complications. Conclusion Preoperative malnutrition is common among patients undergoing abdominal surgeries in the urban private health care sector. Although there have been studies that have analyzed the incidence of malnutrition in patients undergoing oncological surgeries, there is limited literature on malnutrition among patients subjected to gastrointestinal surgeries. We conclude that simple bedside nutritional assessment tools like serum albumin, absolute lymphocyte count, and SGA can accurately identify malnourished patients preoperatively and are good predictors of postoperative complications. Hence, it is imperative to assess and attempt to improve the nutritional status of the patients preoperatively.