Nutritional status of patients admitted to a referral internal medicine service

Estado nutricional de pacientes hospitalizados en medicina interna en un hospital de referencia

Introduction: malnutrition is highly prevalent among hospitalized patients and is associated with poor clinical outcomes, complications and a longer hospital stay. Objective: to determine the prevalence of malnutrition on patients admitted to the internal medicine service. Methods: this is a descriptive study including all patients 18 years-of-age or older admitted to the internal medicine service and screened within 72 hours of admission; critical patients were excluded. Nutritional status was determined using the Subjective Global Assessment (SGA). An informed consent was previously  signed by the patient or one of his relatives. Data regarding social status, hospital stay, age, sex and comorbidities were obtained. Results: 258 hospitalized patients were assessed. The prevalence of malnutrition was 47.7%, with a high frequency in patients older than 68 years. Infection was the reason for admittance in 41.4% of malnourished patients. The mean hospital stay was 7 days in malnourished and non malnourished patients, but the longest, a 25-day stay, was observed in those with malnutrition. No difference in nutritional status was observed in patients with metabolic or pulmonary comorbidities. Conclusion: the prevalence of malnutrition in patients admitted to the Internal Medicine Service at Hospital de San José is close to that reported in the Latin American Nutrition Study (ELAN results, 50.2%). A hospital stay greater than 25 days was observed only in the malnourished patient group and is similar to that reported in other trials.

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