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

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.