title: Subjective global assessment: a reliable nutritional assessment tool to predict outcomes in critically ill patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Nutritional assessment of critically ill patients has created controversy. However, it is well established that malnourished patients who are severely ill have worse outcomes than well-nourished patients. Therefore, assessing patients' nutritional status may be useful in predicting which patients may experience increased morbidity and mortality.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred eighty-five consecutively admitted patients were followed until discharge or death, and their nutritional status was evaluated using Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) as well as anthropometric and laboratory methods. Agreement between the methods was measured using the Kappa coefficient.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Malnutrition was highly prevalent (54%), according to SGA. Malnourished patients had significantly higher rates of readmission to the intensive care unit (ICU) (OR 2.27; CI 1.08-4.80) and mortality (OR 8.12; CI 2.94-22.42). The comparison of SGA with other tests used to assess nutritional status showed that the correlation between the methods ranged from poor to superficial.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  SGA, an inexpensive and quick nutritional assessment method conducted at the bedside, is a reliable tool for predicting outcomes in critically ill patients.
authors.affiliation: Critical Care Unit, Hospital Felício Rocho, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fontes
authors.affiliation: Nursing School, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
authors.forename: Simone de Vasconcelos
authors.initials: Sde V
authors.lastname: Generoso
authors.affiliation: Medical School, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Carandaí 246 Apt. 902, 30130-060 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. Electronic address: isabel_correia@uol.com.br.
authors.forename: Maria Isabel
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Toulson Davisson Correia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016638:Critical Illness / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Intensive care unit; Morbidity; Mortality; Nutritional assessment; Nutritional status; Prognostic indexes