title: Preoperative Nutritional Status and Clinical Complications in the Postoperative Period of Cardiac Surgeries.
abstract: This study aims to assess the preoperative nutritional status of patients and the role it plays in the occurrence of clinical complications in the postoperative period of major elective cardiac surgeries.
  
  
  
  Cross-sectional study comprising 72 patients aged 20 years or older, who underwent elective cardiac surgery. The preoperative nutritional assessment consisted of nutritional screening, anthropometry (including the measurement of the adductor pollicis muscle thickness) and biochemical tests. The patients were monitored for up to 10 days after the surgery in order to control the occurrence of postoperative complications. The R software, version 3.0.2, was used to statistically analyze the data.
  
  
  
  Clinical complications were found in 62.5% (n=42) of the studied samples and complications of non-infectious nature were most often found. Serum albumin appeared to be associated with renal complications (P=0.026) in the nutritional status indicators analyzed herein. The adductor pollicis muscle thickness was associated with infectious complications and presented mean of 9.39±2.32 mm in the non-dominant hand (P=0.030). No significant correlation was found between the other indicators and the clinical complications.
  
  
  
  The adductor pollicis muscle thickness and the serum albumin seemed be associated with clinical complications in the postoperative period of cardiac surgeries.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luciana de Brito
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Natanael Moura Teixeira
authors.initials: NMT
authors.lastname: de Jesus
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Maiara de Brito
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lidiane Cristina Gomes
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Dias
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, BA, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tereza Cristina Bomfim de Jesus
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Deiró
mesh_terms: D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D017558:Elective Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D057234:Preoperative Period; D012307:Risk Factors