Nutritional status of inpatients through a survey on World Nutrition Dayat Military Hospital 103 in 2020

Abstract

Objective: Evaluate the value of weight loss and diet reduction factors with nutritional screening results using the MST (Malnutrition screening tool). Method: Cross-sectional description of malnutrition risk in 466 inpatients at a tertiary teaching hospital of a Vietnam military medical university on the occasion of global nutrition week. Results: Medical ward patients are older, have higher rates of comorbidities, and MST nutritional screening scores than surgical ward ones. The reduction in dietary intake of internal patients is more obvious than that of surgical patients, and the weight loss rate is also higher. The hospital’s overall malnutrition rate according to BMI is 18.5%, of which the medical ward is higher than the surgical ward (p > 0.05). In contrast, the overall malnutrition rate was 34.1%, in which the surgical was lower than the medical population (p < 0.05). Some factors related to the risk of malnutrition include: weight loss in the past 2 weeks (OR = 4.87; p < 0.001); Last week’s food intake decreased by more than half (OR = 4.36; p < 0.001); Weight loss in 3 months over 5% (OR = 3.11; p < 0.01); Patients with health insurance card (OR=2.8; p < 0.05); Lunch reduced by more than half (OR = 1.94; p < 0.05). With the risk of severe malnutrition, related factors include: Last week’s diet decreased by more than half (OR = 6.4; p < 0.001); Career with stable income (OR = 0.35; p < 0.05). Conclusion: The overall malnutrition rate of inpatients according to MST is 34.1%, of which the rate of outpatients is lower than that of internal patients. Symptoms that are relevant to the patient’s risk of malnutrition, in order from highest to lowest, are weight loss in the past 2 weeks, last week’s food intake reduced by more than half, weight loss in the past 3 months of more than 5%, lunch reduced by more than half. In particular, assessment the previous week’s diet is valuable in detecting the patient’s risk of severe malnutrition. Questions from World Nutrition Day activities have high value in detecting the risk of malnutrition in patients.