P563 Nutritional screening in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a challenge in the timely diagnosis of malnutrition and sarcopenia

Abstract

Abstract Background Malnutrition is prevalent in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and has been reported in up to 70% in patients with active disease and 38% in patients in remission, being related to sarcopenia, so different tools have been proposed for the nutritional screening of these patients taking into account the importance of early intervention avoiding consequences related to altered body composition such as inadequate response to treatment and poor quality of life, but the evidence in IBD patients is still unclear and there are no studies in Colombian IBD patients. Therefore, the aim of this study is to describe the nutritional status of patients using multiple nutritional screening and assessment tools. Methods Descriptive observational cross-sectional study in patients diagnosed with IBD with clinical activity, by applying nutritional screening tools such as the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) and the Malnutrition Inflammation Risk Tool (MIRT) to determine their nutritional status and degree of sarcopenia. Results Nutritional screening was performed in 20 patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease, with mild to moderate clinical activity of the disease; patients in clinical remission were excluded. Sixty percent were men and 40% women; with an average age of 44.5 years, 19 years as minimum age and 73 years as maximum age. Taking into account the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), 30% have a high risk of malnutrition, with a higher percentage in men. On the other hand, the MIRT (Malnutrition Inflammation Risk Tool), which evaluates BMI, showed that 25% have a score greater than or equal to 3, which indicates a risk. In addition, and 40% of the population underwent nutritional status assessment in order to rule out sarcopenia. Muscle strength, muscle mass and muscle function were assessed and 25% of this population were diagnosed with sarcopenia and another 25% with possible sarcopenia. Conclusion Patients with IBD are at increased risk of malnutrition, This is the first Colombian study to approach the nutritional assessment of IBD patients with mild to moderate disease activity using nutritional screening tools such as the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) and the Malnutrition Inflammation Risk Tool (MIRT), showing that up to one third of patients are at high risk of malnutrition and 50% have a diagnosis or possible diagnosis of sarcopenia, which is slightly lower than that described in the literature, However, it does raise awareness of the importance of nutritional screening in IBD patients as these alterations have been shown to be associated with increased hospitalisation requirements, number of disease flares and associated complications.