[The assessment of nutritional status in patients over 60 with arteriopathy]

The nutritional status of patients older than 60 years affected by arteriopathy, who were admitted in a scheduled manner to a Vascular Surgery Department, have been studied. The nutritional status was evaluated upon admittance to the hospital and again upon release from the same, to determine whether this changes during the hospital stay. A total of 93 patients (80 men males and 13 females), with a mean age of 71 years, who were admitted to the hospital during a one year period, were studied prospectively. Among the present risk factors, active smokers or ex-smokers (83.87%), diabetics (32.25%), and the consumption of more than 40 g of alcohol/day (21.5%), should be noted. Upon admittance to the hospital, 43.5% of the studied cases presented mild malnutrition. During the hospital stay, which lasted 26.4 +/- 13.8 days, the nutritional status of these patients was ot modified. It should be noted that the delayed type sensitivity skin tests showed anergy in all cases, which suggests that this parameter is not a good nutritional marker for individuals over 60. Finally, we observe that the lean body mass index did not correlate with the rest of the anthropometric parameters used, which could indicate that age affects the lean body mass more than it does the other body components.