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Nutritional status in intensive care unit patients: a prospective clinical cohort pilot study

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

Abstract

Previous researches have shown that the nutritional status of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) was poor on admission and appears to decline during their stay in the ICU. Critically ill patients are prone to malnutrition because their hypermetabolic disorders lead to an increase in nutritional requirements that are not often met with the nutrition supplied. The aim of this study was to assess the nutritional status and hs-CRP of ICU patients on admission and discharge from the hospital. Twenty-nine neurological ICU patients (20–87 years old) underwent fasting blood sample collections, anthropometric measurements and impedance analysis on admission and discharge at Ghaem Teaching Hospital. NRS 2002 was used to determine malnutrition in ICU patients. Markers of nutritional status changed from admission into the ICU until discharge as follows: weight, BMI and triceps skinfold thickness decreased (p < 0.001, p < 0.001 and p < 0.005, respectively). hs-CRP was decreased over the stay in the hospital (admission = 19.4 ± 16.3, discharge = 13.8 ± 14.5, p value = 0.11). The percent of patients at risk of malnutrition decreased during stay in ICU (not significant). Prevalence of malnutrition was as high as 47.6% on admission. The nutritional status of patients was slightly improved over the period of their stay in hospital using NRS 2002 method.

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Abbreviations

BMI:

Body mass index

hs-CRP:

High sensitive C-reactive protein

ICU:

Intensive therapy unit/intensive care unit

SEM:

Standard error of the mean

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Acknowledgments

We thank ICU staff at Ghaem Hospital for facilitating recruitment and taking blood. The authors would like to thank the Mashhad University of Medical sciences (Iran) for scientific and financial support of this work.

Conflict of interest

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, Biochemistry and Nutrition Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Mohsen Nematy, Mohammad Safarian, Abdolreza Norouzy & Majid Ghayour Mobarhan

  2. Nutrition Department, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (MUMS), Ferdowsi Pardis, Azadi Square, PO Box 91775-379, 91779-48564, Mashhad, Iran

    Mohsen Nematy, Seyed Amir Reza Mohajeri, Shirin Amiri Moghadam, Mohammad Safarian, Abdolreza Norouzy, Zahra Siadat, Nasim Shahsavan Gharbi & Majid Ghayour Mobarhan

  3. Biochemistry Department, School of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Seyed Mohammad Reza Parizadeh

  4. Neurology Department, School of Medicine, Qaem Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

    Mahmoud Reza Azarpazhooh

Authors
  1. Mohsen Nematy
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  2. Seyed Amir Reza Mohajeri
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  3. Shirin Amiri Moghadam
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  4. Mohammad Safarian
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  5. Abdolreza Norouzy
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  6. Seyed Mohammad Reza Parizadeh
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  7. Mahmoud Reza Azarpazhooh
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  8. Zahra Siadat
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  9. Nasim Shahsavan Gharbi
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  10. Majid Ghayour Mobarhan
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohsen Nematy.

Appendix

Appendix

See Table 3

Table 3 Age, sex, methods of feeding after admission, energy intakes after admission, length of stay and diagnosis of intensive care patients
Full size table

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Nematy, M., Mohajeri, S.A.R., Moghadam, S.A. et al. Nutritional status in intensive care unit patients: a prospective clinical cohort pilot study. Mediterr J Nutr Metab 5, 163–168 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12349-011-0071-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12349-011-0071-x

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