Circunferência da panturrilha associa-se com pior desfecho clínico em idosos internados

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the use of calf circumference measurement in the diagnosis of nutritional status of elderly in a geriatric hospitalization unit and check whether a calf circumference measurement lower than 31 cm indicates poor clinical outcome in these patients. METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study with 548 elderly people. An association was found between calf circumference measurement and length of hospital stay, clinical outcome, Body Mass Index, nutritional risk and malnutrition. The Mann-Whitney test, the Pearson's χ2 test, the Kruskal-Wallis test, the ANOVA test and the logistic regression were conducted. RESULTS: Inferential analysis showed longer hospital stay (11 versus 9 days; p = 0.028), more deaths (22.4 versus 11.4%; p = 0.001), patients with lower body mass index (19.0 versus 26.5 kg/m2; p < 0.001), higher nutritional risk (99.3 versus 88.6%; p < 0.001), and a higher degree of malnutrition (69.6 versus 8.6%; p < 0.001) in the group with a calf circumference < 31 cm. The average values of calf circumference of the group of patients who passed away (p < 0.001), who were underweight (p < 0.001), who showed nutritional risk (p < 0.001) and who were malnourished (p < 0.001) were significantly lower. In addition, the elderly with calf circumference < 31 cm showed 2.24 times higher chance of death (95%CI 1.40 - 3.66). CONCLUSION: Calf circumference is a good indicator of nutritional status and was associated with poorer clinical outcome in hospitalized elderly patients, justifying thus its routine use in the nutritional evaluation of these patients, especially those bedridden.