[Evaluation of nutritional status in hospital surgical patients (author's transl)]

The nutritional status of 90 hospital surgical patients was evaluated on admission by simple, easily measured anthropometric and biological indexes. The results indicated that many patients were admitted with malnutrition, the degree of which varied according to the indices utilized. Anthropometric measurements showed that 29 to 35% of the patients had moderate malnutrition and 0 to 18% severe malnutrition, while biological indexes revealed moderate or severe malnutrition in over 50% of the subjects. Changes in indices were assessed in 51 patients during their stay in hospital. There was a significant decrease in all anthropometric indexes (p less than 0.01) and in blood albumin (p less than 1.10(-6)) though not in other biological indexes. Differences in sensitivity between indexes may be due to the fact that they reflect activities in different tissues. Several indexes must therefore be utilized in hospital patients to make detection and monitoring of malnutrition more reliable and to evaluate its various aspects.