[Nutritional parameters and morbimortality in clinical hospitalization]

The prevalence of malnutrition in patients admitted to hospital in the region of Northwest Murcia and its repercussion on the morbidity rate and length of admission are studied. A protocol of nutritional evaluation according to the computer programme EDECAN-MED was applied, and the corresponding statistical treatment of data and results was done. We find that anthropometric data lack predictive value and that deterioration in the values for albumin, basal energy expenditure and nutritional prognostic index are associated with increased morbidity/mortality and prolongation of the length of hospital stay. The most valuable predictive datum of the length of hospital stay was the nutritional prognostic index, in spite of it being an index of surgical risk.