Nutritional evaluation of non-traumatic patients admitted to the hospital from Emergency Department

Malnutrition is a common condition, especially among hospitalized patients which are overlooked by many clinicians. Malnutrition was found to be associated with increased hospitalization duration, increased admission frequency, increase in infection frequency and severity, bad wound healing, gait disturbances, fallings, and fractures. In this study, we aimed to determine malnutrition frequency in patients who were admitted to the emergency department for non-trauma causes and hospitalized.

245 patients were admitted to the Emergency Department for non-trauma causes and hospitalized and 245 control group patients were included in this study. Hospitalized patients were assessed with NRS-2002 (Nutritional Risk Screening) and Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA). Age, gender, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), malnutrition status, and wards of the patients were screened.

140 (57.1%) of the hospitalized patients had malnutrition according to NRS-2002 and MNA. There was a statistically significant difference between the control group and the hospitalized patients who were malnourished (Pearson chi-square test; p<0,001). There was a significant relation between hospitalized departments and malnutrition (p<0.05). There was a significant difference in age and height between hospitalized patients and the control group (p<0.0001) whereas no significant difference was found between the height and BMI (p>0.05). There was a significant relationship in terms of hospitalization and malnutrition.

The nutritional state of the patients admitted to the emergency department for non-trauma conditions is an important factor and should not be overlooked.