Abstract
BackgroundTo explore the point prevalence of the risk of malnutrition and the targeting of nutritional interventions in relation to undernutrition risk and hospital volume.MethodsA cross-sectional survey performed in nine hospitals including 2 170 (82.8%) patients that agreed to participate. The hospitals were divided into large, middle, and small sized hospitals. Undernutrition risk and overweight (including obesity) were assessed.ResultsThe point prevalence of moderate/high undernutrition risk was 34%, 26% and 22% in large, middle and small sized hospitals respectively. The corresponding figures for overweight were 38%, 43% and 42%. The targeting of nutritional interventions in relation to moderate/high undernutrition risk was, depending on hospital size, that 7–17% got Protein- and Energy Enriched food (PE-food), 43–54% got oral supplements, 8–22% got artificial nutrition, and 14–20% received eating assistance. Eating assistance was provided to a greater extent and artificial feeding to a lesser extent in small compared to in middle and large sized hospitals.ConclusionThe prevalence of malnutrition risk and the precision in provision of nutritional care differed significantly depending on hospital volume, i.e. case mix. It can be recommended that greater efforts should be taken to increase the use of PE-food and oral supplements for patients with eating problems in order to prevent or treat undernutrition. A great effort needs to be taken in order to also decrease the occurrence of overweight.
Highlights
To explore the point prevalence of the risk of malnutrition and the targeting of nutritional interventions in relation to undernutrition risk and hospital volume
It was found that 27% of the patients in middle and small sized hospitals (< 500 beds) were at risk of undernutrition (which means at least two of: unintentional weight loss, low Body Mass Index (BMI) and eating difficulties) [6], while in a teaching hospital it was 27% or 46% (based on Subjective Global Assessment (SGA)) that were at undernutrition risk [7]
The results of this study clearly demonstrate that there are significant differences in the prevalence of undernutrition risk in relation to hospital volume
Summary
To explore the point prevalence of the risk of malnutrition and the targeting of nutritional interventions in relation to undernutrition risk and hospital volume. Knowledge about the prevalence of risk of malnutrition, i.e. undernutrition risk and overweight (including obesity), is important as it describes the magnitude of these problems and has implications for allocating health care resources for helping patients to remain or become well nourished. Several factors influence the prevalence of risk of malnutrition Among these are type of patients, i.e. case mix, within the different hospital settings and the methods used to measure undernutrition or overweight. This can make it difficult to compare between different hospitals. In a British study, 26% were at medium or high risk of undernutrition in smaller hospitals (< 1000 beds) and 38% in larger hospitals (> 1000 beds, Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool) [9]. Oncological, gastrointestinal and lung diseases are associated with the highest prevalence of undernutrition [8]
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