Ten-year all-cause mortality in hospitalized non-surgical patients based on nutritional status screening

Objective Malnutrition is common in patients admitted to hospital due to acute illness and contributes to negative patient outcomes. In Slovakia there is a lack of relevant data on malnutrition in hospitalized patients, particularly based on chronic co-morbidity and survival. The aim of the present study was to explore the prevalence of malnutrition in hospitalized chronic patients, its relationship to co-morbidity and its impact on 10-year survival. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Nutritional status was estimated by Subjective Global Assessment (SGA), BMI and serum albumin level. Survival was assessed from the National Insurance Registry over a 10-year period. The association between nutritional status measured by SGA and 10-year survival controlling for age, gender, BMI and serum albumin was analysed using Cox regression. Subjects Data were taken from the medical records of 202 consecutively admitted chronic patients. Result s Median age was 63·5 years; 55·4 % were males; median BMI was 25·9 kg/m 2 ; median serum albumin level was 39·0 g/l. Based on SGA evaluation, 38·1 % did not have sufficient nutritional status (SGA classification B and C). Malnutrition was more common in patients who were older ( P =0·023), with lower BMI ( P P =0·049) and oncologic co-morbidity ( P =0·021) and lower albumin level ( P =0·049). In-hospital mortality was 3 %, but during the following 10 years 52 % died. Cox regression analysis controlling for age, gender, BMI and serum albumin showed that SGA was an independent predictor of death (hazard ratio=1·55; 95 % CI 1·04, 2·32; P =0·031). Conclusions SGA is a simple screening tool that can be routinely used in hospitalized Slovak medical patients to predict the risk of death. Improving patient nutrition could thus reduce mortality

Body mass index · Cohort · Confidence interval · Hazard ratio · Malnutrition · Medical record · Proportional hazards model · Retrospective cohort study · Serum Albumin · Frailty in Older Adults · Hip and Femur Fractures · Medicine · Nutrition and Health in Aging · Internal Medicine · Pediatrics

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