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Indices of malnutrition in patients admitted to general medical and chest medicine wards of an Iranian teaching hospital on admission and discharge

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Mediterranean Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism

Abstract

The nutritional status of hospitalised patients is generally poor on admission and in some cases declines during their stay in hospital. The aim of this study was to assess the nutritional status of a group of hospitalised patients on admission and at discharge from a large teaching hospital in Northwestern Iran. Male and female patients, who were anticipated to stay in hospital for more than 1 week on the general medical or chest medicine ward, gave informed consent to take part in the study. One hundred and fourteen patients (53.6 ± 17.2 years, body mass index (BMI) 21.0 ± 5.7 kg/m2 (mean ± standard error of the mean) were recruited to evaluate the nutritional status. Changes in bioimpedance and anthropometric markers of nutritional status were recorded. The NRS 2002 (nutritional risk screening) method was used to assess nutritional status in patients on admission and prior to discharge. Malnutrition, as assessed using NRS 2002 method, decreased during the stay of patients in hospital (2.8 ± 1.0 versus 1.8 ± 1.0, p < 0.001). This study showed that prevalence of malnutrition was as high as 63.1 % on admission to the general medical and chest wards. The nutritional status of patients was significantly changed over the period of their stay in hospital, as assessed using the NRS 2002 method, although patients lost weight due to the acute care situation.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Mashhad University of Medical sciences (Iran) for scientific and financial support of this work. Authors also would like to thank patients who kindly took part in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biochemistry of Nutrition, Endoscopic and Minimally Invasive Surgery, and Cancer Research Centers, and Department of Nutrition, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, 9196773117, Mashhad, Iran

    Mohsen Nematy

  2. Cardiovascular Research Centre, Biochemistry of Nutrition Research Centre and Department of Nutrition, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, 9196773117, Mashhad, Iran

    Hadis Salami, Abdolreza Norouzy, Zahra Siadat, Nasim Shahsavan, Shima Tavallaie & Majid Ghayour-Mobarhan

  3. Institute for Science and Technology in Medicine, University of Keele, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, UK

    Gordon Ferns

  4. Department of Modern Sciences and Technology, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, 9196773117, Mashhad, Iran

    Sonia Sadat Soluti

Authors
  1. Mohsen Nematy
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  2. Hadis Salami
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  3. Abdolreza Norouzy
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  4. Zahra Siadat
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  5. Nasim Shahsavan
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  6. Shima Tavallaie
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  7. Gordon Ferns
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  8. Majid Ghayour-Mobarhan
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  9. Sonia Sadat Soluti
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Majid Ghayour-Mobarhan.

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Nematy, M., Salami, H., Norouzy, A. et al. Indices of malnutrition in patients admitted to general medical and chest medicine wards of an Iranian teaching hospital on admission and discharge. Mediterr J Nutr Metab 6, 53–57 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12349-012-0103-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12349-012-0103-1

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