Abstract
In-patient malnutrition leads to poor outcomes and mortality, and it is largely uninvestigated in non-urban populations. This study sought to: (1) retrospectively estimate the prevalence of malnutrition as diagnosed by dietetics in the rural Australian setting; (2) establish the proportion of all patients at “nutritional risk”; and (3) explore associations between demographic and clinical factors with malnutrition diagnosis and nutritional risk. A retrospective census was undertaken of medical files of all patients aged ≥18 years admitted to a rural hospital setting over a 12-month period. Logistic regression was used to explore associations between malnutrition diagnosis, nutritional risk and patient-related factors. In total, 711 admissions were screened during the 12-month period comprising 567 patients. Among the 125 patients seen by dietitians, 70.4% were diagnosed with malnutrition. Across the total sample, 77.0% had high levels of nutrition related symptoms warranting a need for further assessment by dietitians. Malnutrition diagnosis by dietitians was associated with being over the age of 65 years, and patients had higher odds of being admitted to a residential aged care facility following discharge. In this rural sample, the diagnosis rate of malnutrition appeared to be high, indicating that rural in-patients may be at a high risk of malnutrition. There was also a high proportion of patients who had documentation in their files that indicated they may have benefited from dietetic assessment and intervention, beyond current resourcing.
Highlights
Malnutrition is defined as a physical condition resulting from lack of absorption or intake of nutrition leading to altered body cell mass and composition, which contributes to poorer health status, diminished physical and mental function and impairs clinical outcomes when present with disease [1].Malnutrition among in-patients is a global challenge, with several international studies estimating that the prevalence of malnutrition in hospitalized patients in developed countries is 20–60% [2,3,4,5,6,7,8].The majority (60–80% of admitted patients, especially elderly) are at risk of malnutrition and are likelyInt
A lower proportion of patients residing in the Small Rural Towns were over the age of 65, compared to those residing in the main township, at the time of their admission (60.6% compared to 72.0%, p ≤ 0.05)
Patients residing in the Small Rural Towns had a lower mean length of stay (LOS) of 5.7 days compared to 6.6 days for those who resided in the township
Summary
Malnutrition is defined as a physical condition resulting from lack of absorption or intake of nutrition leading to altered body cell mass and composition, which contributes to poorer health status, diminished physical and mental function and impairs clinical outcomes when present with disease [1].Malnutrition among in-patients is a global challenge, with several international studies estimating that the prevalence of malnutrition in hospitalized patients in developed countries is 20–60% [2,3,4,5,6,7,8].The majority (60–80% of admitted patients, especially elderly) are at risk of malnutrition and are likelyInt. Malnutrition is defined as a physical condition resulting from lack of absorption or intake of nutrition leading to altered body cell mass and composition, which contributes to poorer health status, diminished physical and mental function and impairs clinical outcomes when present with disease [1]. Malnutrition among in-patients is a global challenge, with several international studies estimating that the prevalence of malnutrition in hospitalized patients in developed countries is 20–60% [2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. The majority (60–80% of admitted patients, especially elderly) are at risk of malnutrition and are likely. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 5909; doi:10.3390/ijerph17165909 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
