Nutritional status of medical patients on emergency admission to hospital

The nutritional status was assessed in 75 consecutive patients acutely admitted to a general medical ward. Weight-for-height, triceps skinfold thickness, arm muscle circumference, plasma albumin and serum transferrin were used as nutritional indicators. By combining abnormalities in two or more of these variables, we found obesity in 9% and undernutrition in 22% of the patients on admission. Energy deficiencies as well as acute and chronic protein undernutrition were observed. Age over 75 years, lack of own teeth and a reason for admission other than circulatory disorders or diabetes were tentatively identified as risk factors for undernutrition-some of them conceivably interdependent. Living conditions and regular medication seemed to be less important determinants in this group of patients. We conclude that undernutrition is prevalent among hospitalized medical patients in Sweden as in other industrialized countries. Patients with "hospital malnutrition" are partly recruited from a population of malnourished elderly people outside the hospital. Adequate nutritional support is an essential objective of hospital care in patients wih medical disorders.