Correlation between the risk of falling and nutritional status in elderly surgical patients

Abstract

Objective To investigate the risk of falling and nutritional status in elderly surgical patients, and to assess the correlation between them. Methods Patients aged ≥65 in Department of General Surgery of Beijing Hospital between January and June 2015 were enrolled in this study. The Morse Fall Scale was used to evaluate the risk of falling. Anthropometrics, body composition, and Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002) scores were collected to evaluate the nutritional status of the patients. The correlation between risk of falling and nutritional status was analyzed. Results A total of 383 patients were included, including 314 cases under 80 (65-79 years) and 69 cases ≥80. Patients ≥80 years showed significantly lower grip [(24.53±8.09)kg vs. (30.57±8.48)kg, P<0.05] and 4-meter gait speed [(0.66±0.19)m/s vs. (0.84±0.20)m/s, P<0.05], but significantly increased undernutrition [15.9%(11/69) vs. 7.0%(22/314), P<0.05] and nutritional risk [56.5%(39/69) vs. 38.2%(120/314), P<0.05]. Altogether 33.9% of the patients (130/383) were at high risk of falling, and the prevalence was significantly higher in patients ≥80 than in patients <80 [44.9% (31/69) vs. 31.5% (99/314), P=0.036]. Compared with patients not at high risk of falling, high-risk patients had lower body mass index [(22.33±1.82)kg/m2vs. (23.76±3.26)kg/m2] and grip [(24.95±8.56)kg vs. (30.72±8.39)kg], but higher prevalence of nutritional risk [46.9% (61/130) vs.38.7% (98/253)] (all P<0.05). Conclusions Elderly surgical patients have a high risk of falling, which may be related with their nutritional status. Nursing and nutrition intervention should be emphasized in there patients to prevent falling and improve clinical outcome. Key words: Elderly surgical patients; Risk of falling; Morse Fall Scale; Nutritional Risk Screening; Body composition; Correlation study