title: Nutritional assessment and hand grip strength of candidates for surgery of the gastrointestinal tract.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The assessment of nutritional status in clinical practice must be done with simple, reliable, low cost and easy performance methods. The power of handshake is recognized as a useful tool to evaluate muscle strength, and therefore, it is suggested that can detect malnutrition.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the nutritional status by subjective global assessment and power of handshake preoperatively in patients going to gastrointestinal surgeries and to compare the diagnosis obtained by subjective global assessment with traditional anthropometric methods and power of handshake.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted with patients for surgery in the gastrointestinal tract and related organs. Socioeconomic and anthropometric data, applied to subjective global assessment and checked the power of handshake, were collected. The force was obtained by the average of three measurements of the dominant and non-dominant hand and thus compared with reference values of the population by sex and age, for the classification of nutritional risk.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The sample consisted of 40 patients, 24-83 years, and most women (52.5%) housewives (37,5%) and diagnosed with cancer (45%). According to subjective global assessment, 37.5% were classified as moderately malnourished; 15% were underweight by BMI measurements; 25% had arm circumference at risk for malnutrition (<percentil 5); 60% reported recent weight loss; and 37.5% low clamping force in power of handshake on non-dominant hand (left).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A significant association was observed for the diagnosis of nutritional subjective assessment with anthropometric methods and strength of the handshake only at the non-dominant limb.
authors.affiliation: Clinics Hospital, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brazil.
authors.forename: Thalita Morgana Guimarães
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Silveira
authors.affiliation: Clinics Hospital, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brazil.
authors.forename: Juliana Barbosa de
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Sousa
authors.affiliation: Clinics Hospital, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maria Luiza Ferreira
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Stringhini
authors.affiliation: Clinics Hospital, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brazil.
authors.forename: Ana Tereza Vaz de Souza
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Freitas
authors.affiliation: Clinics Hospital, Federal University of Goiás, Goiânia, GO, Brazil.
authors.forename: Paulla Guimarães
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Melo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000601:surgery*; D018737:Hand Strength; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D011300:Preoperative Care; D055815:Young Adult