Prevalence of patients at nutritional risk in Danish hospitals.
OBJECTIVE
Undernutrition is associated with increased morbidity and mortality and is common in patients admitted to hospital. We examined (1) the prevalence of patients at nutritional risk, (2) whether these patients were identified by the staff, and (3) whether a nutritional plan and monitoring was made for patients at nutritional risk.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study in 15 randomly selected departments (>200 beds, departments of internal medicine, gastro- and orthopedic surgery) in Danish hospitals. The patients were characterized by scoring the components 'undernutrition' and 'severity of disease' in 4 categories (absent, mild, moderate or severe). The patient could have a score of 0-3 for each component (undernutrition and severity of disease), and any patient with a total score > or = 3 was considered at nutritional risk. Undernutrition was evaluated by 3 variables (BMI, recent weight loss, recent food intake).


RESULTS
Out of 590 patients, 39.9% were nutritionally at risk, with the highest prevalence in departments of gastro-surgery (57%). BMI was <18.5 in 10.9%, and between 18.5 and 20.5 in 16.7% of the patients. In 7.6% the records contained information about nutritional risk, in 14.2% about a nutrition plan of which only 55.2% included a plan for monitoring. Measurements of BMI were found in 3% of the records. Both severity of disease (P < 0.02) and weightloss (P < 0.04) were predictive for making a nutrition plan.


CONCLUSIONS
Nearly 40% of patients in departments of internal medicine, gastro- and orthopedic surgery are at nutritional risk, and only a minor part of these patients are identified. As a consequence only few patients at a nutritional risk have a nutrition plan and a plan for monitoring.
Rasmussen
Henrik Højgaard
HH
Department of Gastroenterology, Aalborg Hospital, 9000, Denmark. h.h.r@maill.stofanet.dk
Kondrup
Jens
J
Staun
Michael
M
Ladefoged
Karin
K
Kristensen
Hanne
H
Wengler
Anne
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D044342:Malnutrition / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D015431:Weight Loss