Screening and application of nutritional support in elderly hospitalized patients of a tertiary care hospital in China.

Abstract

BackgroundMalnutrition is very common in elderly patients admitted to the hospital. The aim of our study is to assess the nutritional status of elderly patients and the use of nutritional support in a tertiary care hospital in China and to analyze the impacts of nutritional status and nutritional support on clinical outcomes.MethodsStatistical analysis was performed on a sample of 745 elderly patients in the geriatric medicine department of Qilu Hospital of Shandong University from March 2012 to March 2015. The Nutrition Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002) and Mini Nutritional Assessment-short forms (MNA-SF) were utilized for the nutritional risk screening at admission. Personal information, anthropometric measurements, laboratory tests, nutritional support and clinical outcomes were recorded. Comparisons were carried out to analyze impacts on clinical outcomes and prognosis based on incidence rate of nutritional risk, nutritional support rate, and different methods of support.ResultsNRS 2002 and MNA-SF were utilized to screen for nutritional risk at admission. The results of this screening were 39.81% and 44.10%, respectively. Based on the results of the MNA-SF, 33.38% of elderly patients were at risk of malnutrition and 5.5% were malnourished. The incidence of nutritional risk in the departments of Gastroenterology, Hematology, and Respiratory were 51.72%, 46.88%, 43.33%, respectively, higher than in other departments. Patients with nutritional risk were more likely to have a longer hospital stay compared to those without (P ConclusionsUndernourishment and nutritional risk in elderly patients at hospital admission is a common occurrence. In the current study, the nutritional risk rate in the Gastroenterology department was higher than in other departments. Patients with normal nutritional status were still receiving nutritional support. Overall, there is a need to better apply nutritional support in the clinical treatment of elderly patients. In elderly patients with nutritional risk and malnutrition, nutritional support reduced the length of hospital stay and the incidence of infectious complications.