Identifying malnutrition in emergency general surgery: systematic review

Area of Science:

• Surgical Nutrition
• Medical Malnutrition
• General Surgery

Background:

• Emergency general surgery is a high-risk practice requiring nutritional support due to catabolic stress.
• Malnutrition is a significant concern for patients undergoing emergency general surgery.
• Current methods for defining and determining malnutrition in this population require examination.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine current methods for defining and determining malnutrition in emergency general surgery.
• To review the utilization of nutrition screening and assessment tools in this context.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature search was conducted across multiple databases (MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL) from January 2000 to January 2022.
• Studies involving adult patients with emergency general surgery diagnoses were included, assessing nutritional status.
• Exclusion criteria included studies where patients had already received nutritional support.

Main Results:

• Out of 6700 studies screened, 31 were included in the analysis.
• Malnutrition definitions were provided in 75% of studies, using diverse methods.
• Body Mass Index (BMI) and albumin levels were the most common markers for nutritional status.

Conclusions:

• Significant variation exists in how malnutrition risk is identified in emergency general surgery.
• Standardization of nutrition screening and assessment as distinct processes is recommended for future research.
• Improved understanding of malnutrition risk in surgical patients can be achieved through standardized approaches.