title: The value of objective measurements to select patients who are malnourished.
abstract: Several studies have attempted to define nutritional parameters that can be used to select malnourished hospitalised patients for nutritional support. A combination of objective nutritional parameters was evaluated in a group of 50 patients selected for total parenteral nutrition on clinical grounds only and compared with a control group. This control group consisted of 38 patients who were admitted for elective minor surgical procedures such as varicectomy and hernia repair. On a subset of 18 objective nutritional measurements, discriminant analysis was performed. In the evaluation it was shown that a combination of albumin (ALB), prealbumin (PALB), total lymphocyte count (TLC) and the percentage of ideal weight (PIW) was the most useful combination of nutritional tests in discriminating a chosen malnourished (M) group and a control group who were declared not malnourished (NM). With this combination the patients were correctly classified in 93% with a sensitivity of 93% and a specificity of 94%.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, St Annadal Hospital, University of Limburg, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: P C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.forename: R I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Wesdorp
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Volovics
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roufflart
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Greep
authors.forename: P B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Soeters