Effect of nutritional support on clinical outcome in patients at nutritional risk

Nutritional gap after transfer from the intensive care unit to a general ward - A retrospective quality assurance study

BACKGROUND

Adequate nutrition is important for recovery after critical illness. Even so, our knowledge of patients' nutritional intake after intensive care unit (ICU) discharge is scarce.

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to explore nutritional planning and achieved nutritional intake in ICU patients who transfer from the ICU to general wards.

METHODS

A retrospective quality assurance study.

INCLUSION CRITERIA

adult ICU patients transferring to a general ward at Copenhagen University Hospital-Herlev from May to August 2021. Primary outcomes were as follows: having a nutritional plan on the day of ICU transfer. A nutritional plan was defined as follows: (i) individual assessment of energy and protein requirement; (ii) intake, documented as achieved percentage of energy and protein requirements; (iii) prescribed type of nutrition. If using enteral or parenteral nutrition; (iv) the prescribed doses; and (v) the prescribed product. Secondary outcomes were as follows: achieved percentage of energy and protein requirements from day -1 before ICU transfer until day +1 and day +3 after ICU transfer.

RESULTS

We included 57 patients; the mean age was 64 years (±11.1); 43 (75%) patients were male; the median ICU stay was 6 days (interquartile range: 3-11). One (2%) patient had a full nutritional plan according to listed criteria. Patients' median percentage of requirements met declined significantly from the day before to the day after ICU discharge (energy: from 94% to 30.5%; p = 0.0051; protein: from 73% to 27.5%; p = 0.0117). The decline in percentage of requirements met remained unchanged from day 1 to 3 after ICU transfer.

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, few patients had a nutritional plan when transferring from the ICU to a general ward. After ICU discharge, percentage of energy and protein requirements met declined significantly and remained insufficient during the first 3 days at the general ward.

Survey of nutrition screening practices in pediatric hospitals across the United States

BACKGROUND

Nutrition screening on admission is critically important to systematically identify patients with undernutrition given the known relationship with deleterious clinical outcomes. Limited data exist regarding optimal processes and criteria for pediatric nutrition screening. Therefore, we sought to characterize nutrition screening practices in pediatric hospitals.

METHODS

A total of 365 inpatient pediatric hospitals in the United States were identified, eligible, and contacted. Eligible hospitals included general pediatric hospitals, adult hospitals with pediatric units, and specialty pediatric hospitals. One respondent at each eligible hospital was asked to complete a 33-question survey of admission nutrition screening practices.

RESULTS

Of 268 survey respondents, 37% represented pediatric units in adult hospitals, 35% general pediatric hospitals, and 28% pediatric specialty or psychiatric hospitals. A total of 98.5% endorsed the existence of a screening process on admission. Anthropometrics (eg, body mass index z score, 84%) and nutrition status (eg, change in intake, 67%) were the most common screening criteria applied. A nutrition screening instrument was used in 37% of institutions, and only 31% of institutions reported using pediatric-specific screening instruments. Pediatric units within adult hospitals were 1.38 times more likely to use a screening instrument validated in any population. Barriers to nutrition screening included the lack of a standard screening procedure and insufficient staff to conduct screening. Fifty-four percent of respondents reported a desire to change their hospital's nutrition screening process.

CONCLUSION

Most pediatric hospitals screen for nutrition risk on admission. However, methods and criteria varied widely across pediatric hospitals, highlighting the importance of standardized best practices.

ESPEN practical guideline: Nutritional support for polymorbid medical inpatients

BACKGROUND

Disease-related malnutrition in polymorbid medical inpatients is a highly prevalent syndrome associated with significantly increased morbidity, disability, short- and long-term mortality, impaired recovery from illness, and healthcare costs.

AIM

As there are uncertainties in applying disease-specific guidelines to patients with multiple conditions, our aim was to provide evidence-based recommendations on nutritional support for the polymorbid patient population hospitalized in medical wards.

METHODS

The 2023 update adheres to the standard operating procedures for ESPEN guidelines. We undertook a systematic literature search for 15 clinical questions in three different databases (Medline, Embase and the Cochrane Library), as well as in secondary sources (e.g., published guidelines), until July 12th, 2022. Retrieved abstracts were screened to identify relevant studies that were used to develop recommendations (including SIGN grading), which was followed by submission to Delphi voting. Here, the practical version of the guideline is presented which has been shortened and equipped with flow charts for patients care.

RESULTS

32 recommendations (7× A, 11× B, 10× O and 4× GPP), which encompass different aspects of nutritional support were included from the scientific guideline including indication, route of feeding, energy and protein requirements, micronutrient requirements, disease-specific nutrients, timing, monitoring and procedure of intervention. Here, the practical version of the guideline is presented which has been shortened and equipped with flow charts for patients care.

CONCLUSIONS

Recent high-quality trials have provided increasing evidence that nutritional support can reduce morbidity and other complications associated with malnutrition in polymorbid patients. The timely screening of patients for risk of malnutrition at hospital admission followed by individualized nutritional support interventions for at-risk patients should be part of routine clinical care and multimodal treatment in hospitals worldwide. Use of this updated practical guideline offers an evidence-based nutritional approach to polymorbid medical inpatients and may improve their outcomes.

Malnutrition risk, outcomes, and costs among older adults undergoing elective surgical procedures: A retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND

We examine here the association between malnutrition risk and adverse health outcomes among older adult patients undergoing elective surgical procedures.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective study using linked clinical and administrative databases. Malnutrition risk was assessed prior to surgery, defined by unintentional weight loss and decreased food intake. We performed a logistic regression analysis of the primary outcome, a composite adverse outcome measure, including death, bleeding, pneumonia, and other surgical complications. We conducted Fine-Gray proportional hazard regression analysis of hospital length of stay (LOS). We performed a generalized linear regression analysis of in-hospital cost data. All regression analyses controlled for frailty, age, sex, surgical category, and comorbidities.

RESULTS

Of a total of 3457 older adult elective surgical patients (65-102 years), 310 (9.0%) screened positive for malnutrition risk. In multivariable regression analyses, malnutrition risk was associated with an increased risk of the composite adverse outcome (odds ratio [OR] = 1.74; 95% CI = 1.25-2.39), higher hospitalization costs (relative cost = 1.84; 95% CI = 1.59-2.13), and a decreased risk of discharge from the hospital (hazard ratio = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.59-0.77) compared with those who screened negative.

CONCLUSION

Older adult patients with malnutrition risk were at an increased risk of adverse surgical outcomes, had longer LOS in the hospital, and incurred higher costs of care. It is important to screen for malnutrition risk and refer older adults for dietetic consults prior to elective surgery.

Oral health problems are associated with malnutrition in hospitalised adult patients

BACKGROUND & AIMS

Hospitalised patients are especially vulnerable to malnutrition, which is associated with an increased risk of complications, leading to longer hospital stays, increased healthcare costs, and with a potentially negative effect on the prognosis. Poor oral health may make food intake difficult and contribute to poor nutritional status. The aim of the present cross-sectional study was to assess the occurrence of poor oral health and malnutrition in adult hospitalised patients, and further to investigate associations between oral health problems and malnutrition.

METHODS

The Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) determined the patients' nutritional status. The oral health condition was evaluated according to the Revised Oral Assessment Guide-Jönköping (ROAG-J) and unstimulated salivary flow rate. Clinical information was collected from medical records.

RESULTS

The study population included 118 patients from 15 somatic and 3 psychiatric wards at a University Hospital in Norway. Nearly half the patients (46%) were categorised as malnourished and in need of symptom alleviation or nutritional intervention. Malnutrition was found in all diagnostic conditions. According to ROAG-J, at least one oral health problem was identified in 93% of the patients. Severe oral health problems were more frequent in malnourished patients. Overall, both the number and total score of oral health problems were associated with malnutrition (OR 1.57, 95% CI 1.20-2.06 and OR 1.47, 95% CI 1.17-1.83, respectively). Of specific oral health items, problems with lips and mucous membranes were significantly associated with malnutrition. One-fifth of all patients had hyposalivation, but this was not associated with malnutrition.

CONCLUSIONS

Oral health problems and malnutrition are commonly seen in hospitalised adult patients. The association between the two calls for raised awareness of oral health issues in assessing patients' nutritional status. Further study is required to clarify whether oral health problems constitute a causal factor in malnutrition.

ESPEN guideline on nutritional support for polymorbid medical inpatients

BACKGROUND

Disease-related malnutrition in polymorbid medical inpatients is a highly prevalent syndrome associated with significantly increased morbidity, disability, short- and long-term mortality, impaired recovery from illness, and cost of care.

AIM

As there are uncertainties in applying disease-specific guidelines to patients with multiple conditions, our aim was to provide evidence-based recommendations on nutritional support for the polymorbid patient population hospitalized in medical wards.

METHODS

This update adheres to the standard operating procedures for ESPEN guidelines. We did a systematic literature search for 15 clinical questions in three different databases (Medline, Embase and the Cochrane Library), as well as in secondary sources (e.g. published guidelines), until July 12th. Retrieved abstracts were screened to identify relevant studies that were used to develop recommendations (incl. SIGN grading), which was followed by submission to Delphi voting.

RESULTS

From a total of 3527 retrieved abstracts, 60 new relevant studies were analyzed and used to generate a guideline draft that proposed 32 recommendations (7x A, 11x B, 10x O and 4x GPP), which encompass different aspects of nutritional support including indication, route of feeding, energy and protein requirements, micronutrient requirements, disease-specific nutrients, timing, monitoring and procedure of intervention. The results of the first online voting showed a strong consensus (agreement of >90%) on 100% of the recommendations. Therefore, no final consensus conference was needed.

CONCLUSIONS

Recent high-quality trials have provided increasing evidence that nutritional support can reduce morbidity and other complications associated with malnutrition in polymorbid patients. The timely screening of patients for risk of malnutrition at hospital admission followed by individualized nutritional support interventions for at-risk patients should be part of routine clinical care and multimodal treatment in hospitals worldwide. Use of this updated guideline offers an evidence-based nutritional approach to the polymorbid medical inpatients and may improve their outcomes.

Are nutritional sufficiency of ≥75% energy and protein requirements relevant targets in patients at nutritional risk? - A one month follow-up study

BACKGROUND & AIM

Nutrient intake in patients at nutritional risk was recorded with the aim of reaching at least 75% of estimated requirements for energy and protein. However, the cutoff at 75% has only been sparsely investigated. The aim of this study was to re-evaluate the 75% cutoff of estimated energy and protein requirements among patients at or not at nutritional risk in relation to 30-day mortality and readmissions.

METHODS

A 30-day follow-up study was performed among hospitalized patients in 31 units at a Danish University Hospital. Data was collected using the nurses' quartile nutrition registration method and electronic patient journals. All patients were screened using the NRS-2002 and classified as either at nutritional risk (NRS-2002, score ≥3) or not at nutritional risk (NRS-2002, score <3). Energy and protein requirements were estimated using weighted Harris-Benedict equation and 1.3 g/kg/day, respectively.

RESULTS

In total, 318 patients were included in this study. Patients at nutritional risk were older, lower BMI, male, more comorbidities and a longer primary length of stay compared to patients not at nutritional risk (p < 0.05). After 30-day follow-up, mortality was higher among patients at risk (9.5% vs. 2.0%, p < 0.05). Patients at nutritional risk showed increased risk of mortality if they did not achieve 75% of estimated requirements (energy: OR = 8.08 [1.78; 36.79]; protein: OR = 3.40 [0.74; 15:53]). Furthermore, predicted probability of mortality decreased with increased energy and protein intakes. No significant associations were found for readmissions achieving 75% of estimated energy or protein requirements. A cutoff of 76-81% for energy and 58-62% for protein was equivalent with accepting a 6-8% mortality rate.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study indicate that an energy intake ≥75% of estimated requirement among patients at nutritional risk has a preventative effect regarding mortality within one month, but not for readmissions.

Nutritional Intake, Hospital Readmissions and Length of Stay in Hospitalised Oncology Patients

BACKGROUND

Poor food intake is an independent risk factor for malnutrition in oncology patients, and achieving adequate nutrition is essential for optimal clinical and health outcomes. This study investigated interrelationships between nutritional intake and clinical outcomes in hospitalised adult oncology patients.

METHODS

Estimated nutrition intake data were obtained from patients admitted to a 117-bed tertiary cancer centre during May-July 2022. Clinical healthcare data, including length of stay (LOS) and 30-day hospital readmissions, were obtained from patient medical records. Statistical analysis, including multivariable regression analysis, assessed whether poor nutritional intake was predictive of LOS and readmissions.

RESULTS

No relationships between nutritional intake and clinical outcomes were evident. Patients at risk of malnutrition had lower mean daily energy (-898.9 kJ, p = 0.001) and protein (-10.34 g, p = 0.015) intakes. Increased malnutrition risk at admission prolonged LOS (1.33 days, p = 0.008). Hospital readmission rates were 20.2%, and associated with age (r = -0.133, p = 0.015), presence of metastases (r = 0.125, p = 0.02) and longer LOS (1.34 days, r = 0.145, p = 0.02). Sarcoma (43.5%), gynaecological (36.8%) and lung (40.0%) cancers had the highest readmission rates.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite research showing the benefits of nutritional intake during hospitalisation, evidence continues to emerge on the relationship between nutritional intake and LOS and readmissions that may be confounded by malnutrition risk and cancer diagnosis.

Interventions for malnutrition in hospitalized adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Malnutrition is associated with poor outcomes in hospitalized adults. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of hospital-initiated interventions for patients with malnutrition.

METHODS

Data sources included MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library from January 1, 2000 to June 3, 2021. We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) assessing interventions for hospitalized adults diagnosed or identified as at-risk for malnutrition using malnutrition screening and diagnostic assessment tools. Individual reviewers extracted study data and performed quality checks for accuracy. Meta-analysis was conducted using a random-effects model with variance correction. We assessed the overall strength of evidence at the outcome level. The risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2.0 tool.

RESULTS

We found 11 RCTs that assessed two types of interventions: specialized nutrition care (8 RCTs) and increased protein provision (3 RCTs). The pooled findings of 11 RCTs found moderate strength of evidence that specialized nutrition care and increased protein provision reduced mortality by 21% (relative risk [RR]: 0.79, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.63-0.98; absolute risk reduction [ARR]: -0.02, 95% CI: -0.03 to -0.00). Pooled estimates indicated a nonsignificant decrease of 0.18 days in the length of stay (9 RCTs) and a 10% reduction in readmissions (7 RCTs). No eligible RCTs assessed parenteral or enteral nutrition.

CONCLUSION

Certain malnutrition-focused hospital-initiated interventions (e.g., specialized nutrition care and increased protein provision) reduce mortality and may improve the quality of life among patients at risk for or diagnosed with malnutrition. Future trials are needed to assess the effectiveness of parenteral and enteral nutrition.

Building a Center for Abdominal Core Health: The Importance of a Holistic Multidisciplinary Approach

BACKGROUND

This article seeks to be a collection of evidence and experience-based information for health care providers around the country and world looking to build or improve an abdominal core health center. Abdominal core health has proven to be a chronic condition despite advancements in surgical technique, technology, and equipment. The need for a holistic approach has been discussed and thought to be necessary to improve the care of this complex patient population.

METHODS

Literature relevant to the key aspects of building an abdominal core health center was thoroughly reviewed by multiple members of our abdominal core health center. This information was combined with our authors' experiences to gather relevant information for those looking to build or improve a holistic abdominal core health center.

RESULTS

An abundance of publications have been combined with multiple members of our abdominal core health centers members experience's culminating in a wide breadth of information relevant to those looking to build or improve a holistic abdominal core health center.

CONCLUSIONS

Evidence- and experience-based information has been collected to assist those looking to build or grow an abdominal core health center.

mNUTRIC tool is capable to predict nutritional needs and mortality early in patients suffering from severe pneumonia

OBJECTIVE

This retrospective observational study aims to evaluate the prognostic accuracy of Modified Nutrition Risk in Critically ill (mNUTRIC) compared to Nutrition Risk Score-2002 (NRS-2002) in patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit due to severe pneumonia during the pandemic period.

METHODS

RT-PCR test and Chest CT was performed in all patients in the emergency department pandemic area. The CURB-65 at the time of admission to the emergency department and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II), Sequential organ failure assessment score (SOFA), NRS-2002 and mNUTRIC scores 24 h after hospitalization in the intensive care unit were calculated. The analysis of the data was made in IBM SPSS Statistics Base 22.0 package program.

RESULTS

One hundred and twenty-five patients found to have severe pneumonia based on the chest CT taken in the emergency department pandemic area and hospitalized in the intensive care unit were included in the study. A real-time reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) test was positive in 30.4% (n: 38) of the patients. Additional nutrition treatment was initiated in 54.4% of the patients. In the analytical evaluation to predict nutritional treatment needs, mNUTRIC's AUC value (AUC: 0.681, 95% 0.582-0.780, p < 0.001) was higher than NRS-2002. While 64.8% (n: 81) of the patients were discharged, 35.2% (n: 44) died. In the analytical evaluation to predict mortality, the AUC value of mNUTRIC had the highest value (AUC: 0.875, 95% CI 0.814-0.935, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

The mNUTRIC score can predict at an early period the nutritional needs and mortality of patients with severe pneumonia during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Agreement between the GLIM criteria and PG-SGA in a mixed patient population at a nutrition outpatient clinic

BACKGROUND & AIMS

The Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria is a step-wise process including a screening tool of choice for risk assessment of malnutrition before assessment of diagnosis and grading of malnutrition severity. The agreement between GLIM and the established malnutrition assessment method Patient Generated-Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) is uncertain. Also, several aspects of GLIM remain to be clearly defined. In this study, we compared diagnosis of malnutrition with the GLIM criteria to the PG-SGA, and explored the differences between the methods.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Nutrition Outpatient Clinic at Oslo University Hospital, Norway. Patients were included from September-December 2019. Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002) was used as the screening tool in the GLIM process before diagnosing and grading the severity of malnutrition. Results are presented with and without the initial risk screening. The diagnostic results from the GLIM process were compared to the malnutrition diagnosis using the PG-SGA.

RESULTS

In total, 144 patients, median age 58 years, participated in the study. The full GLIM process identified 36% of the patients as malnourished, while the PG-SGA identified 69% of the patients as malnourished. Comparison of GLIM and PG-SGA showed fair agreement, however the agreement was better when the NRS-2002 screening was excluded. Considering the PG-SGA a gold standard, GLIM had a sensitivity of 51% and a specificity of 98%. The introduction of new cut-off values for fat-free mass did not considerably alter the diagnosis of malnutrition within GLIM.

CONCLUSIONS

The GLIM criteria showed only fair agreement with the PG-SGA, however the agreement was better when the initial NRS-2002 screening was excluded. A joint consensus on how to perform the GLIM process is needed for comparisons of future studies, and before routine use in clinical practice.

Nutritional risk is a predictor for long-term mortality: 5-Year follow-up of the EFFORT trial

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

The nutritional risk screening (NRS 2002) is a validated screening tool for malnutrition. This study aims to investigate the prognostic value of the NRS 2002 and its individual components regarding long-term mortality and adverse outcomes in a well-characterized cohort of medical inpatients.

METHODS

We performed a 5-year follow-up investigation of patients included in the investigator-initiated, prospective, randomized controlled multicenter EFFORT trial that evaluated the effects of individualized nutritional intervention vs. standard hospital food. We used multivariable cox regression analyses adjusted for randomisation arm, study centre, comorbidities and main admission diagnosis to investigate associations between NRS 2002 total scores at time of hospital admission and several long-term outcomes.

RESULTS

We had confirmed mortality data over the mean follow-up time of 3.2 years in 1874 from the initial cohort of 2028 EFFORT patients. Mortality showed a step-wise increase in patients with NRS 3 (289/565 [51.2%]) and NRS 4 (355/717 [49.6%]) to 59.5% (353/593) in patient with NRS≥5 corresponding to an adjusted Hazard Ratio (HR) of 1.28 (95%CI 1.15 to 1.42, p ≤ 0.001) for mortality after one year and 1.13 (95%CI 1.05 to 1.23, p = 0.002) for the overall time period. All individual components of NRS including disease severity, food intake, weight loss and BMI provided prognostic information regarding long-term mortality risk.

CONCLUSION

Nutritional risk mirrored by a NRS 2002 total score is a strong and independent predictor of long-term mortality and morbidity in polymorbid medical inpatients particularly in patients with high nutritional risk with an NRS ≥5 points.

Evaluation of Nutrition Risk in Patients Over 65 Years of Age With Nontraumatic Acute Abdominal Syndrome

BACKGROUND

The objective of this study is to investigate the power of CRP/Albumin ratio, NRS-2002, mNUTRIC scores to predict nutritional needs and mortality in patients over 65 years of age diagnosed with acute abdominal syndrome in the emergency department and then transferred to the surgical intensive care unit.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

CRP/Albumin ratio, APACHE II, SOFA, NRS-2002 and mNUTRIC scores were calculated. The analysis of the data was conducted in IBM SPSS Statistics Base 22.0 package program.

RESULTS

In the analytical evaluation made for nutritional needs, AUC value for mNUTRIC was found to be: 0,683, 95% CI 0,611-0,755, p < 0.001. It was found out that mortality of patients had a statistically significant and moderate correlation with mNUTRIC score (r = 0.537; p < 0.001). In the analytical evaluation made for mortality, mNUTRIC's AUC value (AUC: 0.808, 95% CI 0.736-0.880, p < 0.001) was found to be the highest. When the cut-off value determined to predict mortality was taken as 3.5 for mNUTRIC score, sensitivity was 75.9% and specificity was 69.4%.

CONCLUSION

The evaluation of the risk of malnutrition through nutritional risk tools in intensive care patients over 65 years of age with acute abdominal syndrome can also predict nutritional needs in the early period besides mortality. Based on our data, the fact that mNUTRIC score cut-off value in older patients hospitalized in intensive care is 3.5 and higher may be a predictor for ICU mortality.

Nutrition Support Teams: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

The concept of a nutrition support team (NST) was first introduced at the end of the 20th century in the US and Europe. Expected benefits include reduced (inappropriate) prescription of (par)enteral nutrition; however, to the authors' knowledge, no recent review has assessed the effectiveness of NSTs. Therefore, this systematic review evaluated the effectiveness of NSTs with respect to the prevalence of adult patients receiving (par)enteral nutrition.

METHODS

Five literature databases were searched and completed by citing searches. Studies on NSTs that were published between 2000 and 2018 in Western countries, applied a comparative design, and contained at least outcome data on the prevalence of (par)enteral nutrition were included. Analyses were mainly descriptive because of high heterogeneity that prevented meta-analyses.

RESULTS

The 27 included studies mainly originated from the UK and US. Only 1 of the included studies was a randomized trial; the other studies had a pre-post design (n = 17) or compared groups in a nonrandomized way. All but 2 studies were performed in acute care hospitals, and 5 studies focused only on intensive care patients. There was conflicting evidence of whether NSTs lead to reduction or increase in patients starting parenteral nutrition (PN); however, weak evidence suggested that NSTs might lead to an increase in the ratio of enteral nutrition to PN use and might decrease inappropriate PN use.

CONCLUSION

Although almost all studies concluded in favor of NSTs, the evidence base is weak and insufficient because of a lack of well-designed studies and successful outcomes.

Nutritional support therapy after GLIM criteria may neglect the benefit of reducing infection complications compared with NRS2002: Reanalysis of a cohort study

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study is to validate the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria and determine the number of Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS2002)-positive patients who do not meet the GLIM, as well as examine whether these patients would benefit from nutritional support therapy.

METHODS

A reanalysis of a published prospective observational study was performed. The subjects were rediagnosed per the NRS2002 and GLIM criteria. The prevalence of malnutrition was reported, and the difference in rate of infection complications and total complications between the nutritional support therapy and glucose-electrolyte cohorts was calculated.

RESULTS

Among 1831 cases in the original database, 827 cases (45.2%) were NRS2002-positive. A total of 391 cases were identified by the GLIM criteria as malnourished (21.4%) and of these, subjects in the nutritional support therapy cohort had fewer infection complications than those in the glucose-electrolyte cohort (13.0% vs. 23.0%; P = 0.010). The remaining 436 patients were NRS2002 positive but GLIM negative (23.8%). The rate of infection was also significantly lower in the support cohort than in the nonsupport cohort (8.0% vs. 15.7%; P = 0.011). Nutritional support was proven o be a protective factor for infection complications in both GLIM-positive (odds ratio: 0.407; 95% confidence interval, 0.232-0.714; P = 0.002) and NRS2002-positive/GLIM-negative patients [odds ratio: 0.314; 95% confidence interval, 0.161-0.612; P = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The GLIM criteria have been validated, and are useful in identifying malnourished patients who may have fewer infection complications due to nutritional support therapy. However, the criteria neglected half of the patients identified by NRS2002, among whom nutritional support therapy also decreased the rate of infection complications.

Comparative Survey on Nutrition Risk and Nutrition Support Among Hospitalized General Surgery Patients Over a 7-Year Period

Background

In China, the trend of the prevalence of nutrition risk and malnutrition among the patients in hospitals has changed dramatically in the past few years. The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of nutrition risk, undernutrition, and the application of nutrition support among hospitalized general surgery patients over a 7‐year period from 2010 to 2017.

Methods

A total of 810 consecutive inpatients who met the inclusion criteria upon admission and provided informed consent were recruited from March to December 2017. Nutrition risk was screened using the Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 tool. All the data collected in 2017 were compared with the data collected in 2010.

Results

The prevalence of undernutrition among the surgical patients in 2017 (12.8%) was lower than that in 2011 (15.5%) (P < .05), whereas the prevalence of nutrition risk in 2017 (42.6%) was higher than that in 2011 (30.4%) (P < .01). The application of nutrition support, including parenteral nutrition and enteral nutrition, among the patients in 2017 was higher than that in 2010 (P < .05). In 2017, 70.7% of the patients who were at nutrition risk received nutrition support, whereas only 48.9% of patients at nutrition risk did in 2010 (P < .05). Moreover, 26.9% of patients without nutrition risk received nutrition support in 2017 compared with 18.0% of patients in 2010.

Conclusions

The nutrition statuses among surgical inpatients changed from 2010 to 2017. The prevalence of undernutrition was reduced, whereas the prevalence of nutrition risk increased. The application of nutrition support increased significantly, whereas inappropriate application of nutrition support still existed in our hospital. More attention should be paid to the nutrition‐related issues of general surgery inpatients in the future.

High nutritional risk is associated with unfavorable outcomes in patients admitted to an intensive care unit

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate possible associations between nutritional risk and the clinical outcomes of critical patients admitted to an intensive care unit.

METHODS

A prospective study was carried out with a cohort comprising 200 patients admitted to a university hospital intensive care unit. Nutritional risk was assessed with the NRS-2002 and NUTRIC scores. Patients with scores ≥ 5 were considered at high nutritional risk. Clinical data and outcome measures were obtained from patients' medical records. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to calculate odds ratios and their respective 95% confidence intervals (for clinical outcomes).

RESULTS

This sample of critical patients had a mean age of 59.4 ± 16.5 years and 53.5% were female. The proportions at high nutritional risk according to NRS-2002 and NUTRIC were 55% and 36.5%, respectively. Multiple logistic regression models adjusted for gender and type of admission indicated that high nutritional risk assessed by the NRS-2002 was positively associated with use of mechanical ventilation (OR = 2.34; 95%CI 1.31 - 4.19; p = 0.004); presence of infection (OR = 2.21; 95%CI 1.24 - 3.94; p = 0.007), and death (OR = 1.86; 95%CI 1.01 - 3.41; p = 0.045). When evaluated by NUTRIC, nutritional risk was associated with renal replacement therapy (OR = 2.10; 95%CI 1.02 - 4.15; p = 0.040) and death (OR = 3.48; 95%CI 1.88 - 6.44; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

In critically ill patients, high nutritional risk was positively associated with an increased risk of clinical outcomes including hospital death.

Challenges and Perspectives in Nutritional Counselling and Nursing: A Narrative Review

Nutritional counselling has been recognised as the first line approach in the management of numerous chronic diseases. Though usually carried out by dietitians, nutritional counselling may be used by nurses, or other healthcare professionals to improve nutritional status and meet healthcare goals. Healthcare professionals require training and education to facilitate a patient centred approach to effective counselling. Advances in digital technology have the potential to improve access to nutritional counselling for some patients such as those in primary care. However, caution is required to ensure that valuable interpersonal relationships are not lost, as these form the cornerstone of effective nutritional counselling. The aim of this narrative review is to explore aspects of effective nutritional counselling, including advances in e-counselling and areas where nursing input in nutritional counselling might enhance overall nutritional care.

Efficacy and Efficiency of Nutritional Support Teams

Malnutrition is frequent in patients during a hospital admission and may further worsen during the hospital stay without appropriate nutritional support. Malnutrition causes greater complication rates, morbidity, and mortality rates, which increases the length of hospital stay and prolongs rehabilitation. Early recognition of individual nutritional risk and timely initiation of a tailored nutritional therapy are crucial. Recent evidence from large-scale trials suggests that efficient nutritional management not only improves the nutritional status, but also prevents negative clinical outcomes and increases patients’ quality of life. Multifaceted clinical knowledge is required to ensure optimal nutritional support, according to a patient’s individual situation and to avoid potential complications. Furthermore, clear definition of responsibilities and structuring of patient, and work processes are indispensable. Interdisciplinary and multiprofessional nutritional support teams have been built up to ensure and improve the quality and safety of nutritional treatments. These teams continuously check and optimize the quality of procedures in the core areas of nutritional management by implementing nutritional screening processes using a validated tool, nutritional status assessment, an adequate nutritional care plan development, prompt and targeted nutritional treatment delivery, and provision of accurate monitoring to oversee all aspects of care, from catering to artificial nutrition. The foundation of any nutritional care plan is the identification of patients at risk. The aim of this narrative review is to provide an overview about composition, tasks, and challenges of nutritional support teams, and to discuss the current evidence regarding their efficiency and efficacy in terms of clinical outcome and cost effectiveness.

Association Between Risk Factors and Intensive Nutritional Intervention Outcomes in Elderly Individuals

Background

The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors for intensive nutritional intervention outcomes in elderly undernourished patients to help reduce the number of patients with prolonged hospital stay or without recuperation of previous activities of daily living and quality of life.

Methods

In total, 230 patients who received interventions from a nutrition support team (NST) between January 2016 and July 2018 were included. Patients were classified into two groups based on NST intervention outcomes: patients with improved nutritional status were included in the successful group, whereas those whose nutritional status did not improve, as defined by progressive illness or death, were classified into the non-successful group. We assessed patient characteristics, laboratory data, and nutrition support methods.

Results

Our multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis showed that: 1) The presence of peripheral parenteral nutrition (hazard ratio (HR): 1.80; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.13 - 2.88) was identified as an independent risk factor for NST intervention outcomes; 2) The energy fill rate to total energy expenditure was < 66.0% (HR: 1.61; 95% CI: 0.98 - 2.66); and 3) A geriatric nutritional risk index score < 70.0 (HR: 1.54; 95% CI: 0.92 - 2.56) tended to be negatively associated with NST intervention outcomes.

Conclusions

In addition to the nutrition therapy provided by a traditional NST, patients with the risk factors require nutritional intervention. Elderly individuals should also receive nutrition care because they have been recuperating at their home or in long-term care facilities, to prevent experiencing adverse conditions.

Relationship between Postoperative Recovery and Nutrition Risk Screened by NRS 2002 and Nutrition Support Status in Patients with Gastrointestinal Cancer

Objective: Investigating incidence of nutritional risk and nutrition support in gastrointestinal cancer patients to provide reference for improving the clinical nutritional application level.Method: We evaluated the nutritional risk of gastrointestinal cancer patients who were newly admitted from September 2015 to February 2016 by Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS 2002).Results: Totally, 201 cases completed assessment by NRS 2002, and 69 cases (34.3%) were at nutritional risk. The incidence of nutritional risk was higher in patients with ≥65 (P < 0.05), with tumor size ≥ 5 cm (P < 0.05) or well-differentiated (P < 0.001). Incidence of nutritional risk in patients with BMI < 18.5 was higher than patients with BMI 18.5-25 and ≥25 (P < 0.05). Patients with nutrition risk had greater rate of anemia than with no risk. In nutritional risk group, 54 cases underwent enteral nutrition support, and their hospitalization stay was shorter, and the rates of complications were smaller (P < 0.05). Further multivariate logistic regression analysis showed NRS 2002 score, middle differentiation degree and III/I were the risk factors for postoperative complication.Conclusion: Preoperative NRS 2002 score was proved to be a predictive index for postoperative complication rate, and this indicates that patients with a high preoperative NRS 2002 score are at higher risk of developing postoperative complications and longer recovery period.

Protein and energy intake improved by in-between meals: An intervention study in hospitalized patients

BACKGROUND/AIM

Disease related malnutrition is a major problem in hospitals. Malnutrition in hospitalized patients is caused by many factors. Among these factors are decreased appetite and early satiety, and reaching nutritional requirements in nutritional risk patients is a challenge when using ordinary energy and protein dense food. The aim of this study was to examine if total protein and energy intake in medical and surgical patients at nutritional risk could be improved by protein fortified and energy rich in-between meals.

METHODS

An assortment of fortified in-between meals including 10 g of protein was developed based on patient preferences and served in the Departments of Lung Medicine and Abdominal Surgery for a period of three months. Nutrition intake was recorded before and after intervention.

RESULTS

Food intake records were collected from a total of 92 patients, (46 before and 46 after intervention). The total amount of protein intake per in-between meal was increased from 2,6 g to 10,3 g. Total daily protein intake increased from 49% to 88% (p < 0.00) and total energy intake from 74% to 109% (p < 0.00) of requirements.

CONCLUSION

Protein and energy intake for surgical and medical patients at in-between meals as well as total daily intake increased significantly. Recommended average level for individually measured requirements was reached.

Identifying Critically Ill Veterans Who Require Nutrition Intervention: A Quality Improvement Study Comparing Nutrition Risk Tools

BACKGROUND

Identification of intensive care unit (ICU) patients who require nutrition intervention is crucial to initiating nutrition therapy. This prospective quality improvement study evaluated the Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS) 2002, Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST), and Nutrition Risk in Critically Ill (NUTRIC) score in comparison with the Veterans Administration Nutrition Status Classification (VANSC) tool to determine which best identified the need for nutrition intervention.

METHODS

A convenience sample of 150 ICU patients was evaluated using the VANSC, NRS 2002, MUST, and the NUTRIC score. The resultant score, need for nutrition intervention, and presence of malnutrition were recorded for patients. Interventions were defined as need for enteral or parenteral nutrition, nutritional supplements, or diet change. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC), F1 score, and accuracy to predict need for nutrition intervention were calculated for each screening tool.

RESULTS

Of the 150 patients, 49 (33%) required 1 or more nutrition interventions. The NRS 2002 (0.878) and VANSC (0.816) had the highest sensitivity. The NUTRIC (0.921) and VANSC (0.911) had the highest specificity. The VANSC (0.816) and MUST (0.687) had the highest PPV. The VANSC (0.911) and NRS 2002 (0.872) had the highest NPV. The VANSC (0.727) and MUST (0.528) had the highest MCC. The VANSC (0.816) and MUST (0.680) had the highest F1 score.

CONCLUSIONS

Trialing several tools to identify their efficacy and reliability individual setting may help determine the most appropriate tool to utilize for your patient population and specific goals.

Full Nutrition or Not?

Enteral nutrition (EN) is widely used in intensive care units around the world, but the optimal dosing strategy during the first week of critical illness is still controversial. Numerous studies in the past decade have provided conflicting recommendations regarding the roles of trophic and permissive/intentional underfeeding strategies. Further complicating effective medical decision making is the widespread, yet unintentional and persistent underdelivery of prescribed energy and protein, in addition to the trend for recommending ever-higher amounts of protein delivery. We postulate that the key to appropriate enteral strategy lies within an accurate and patient-specific assessment. Patients with a baseline high nutrition risk and those with increased nutrition demands, such as those with wounds, surgery, or burns, likely require full nutrition support, in contrast with medical patients, such as those with acute respiratory distress syndrome, who may selectively be appropriate for trophic strategies. In this analysis, we review several key trials for and against full EN in the first week of critical illness, as well as key issues such as the role of autophagy and immunonutrition in enteral dose selection.

Determination of Nutrition Risk and Status in Critically Ill Patients: What Are Our Considerations?

The stress catabolism state predisposes critically ill patients to a high risk of malnutrition. This, coupled with inadequate or delayed nutrition provision, will lead to further deterioration of nutrition status. Preexisting malnutrition and iatrogenic underfeeding are associated with increased risk of adverse complications. Therefore, accurate detection of patients who are malnourished and/or with high nutrition risk is important for timely and optimal nutrition intervention. Various tools have been developed for nutrition screening and assessment for hospitalized patients, but not all are studied or validated in critically ill populations. In this review article, we consider the pathophysiology of malnutrition in critical illness and the currently available literature to develop recommendations for nutrition screening and assessment. We suggest the use of the (modified) Nutrition Risk in the Critically Ill (mNUTRIC) for nutrition risk screening and the subjective global assessment (SGA) together with other criteria relevant to the critically ill patients, such as gastrointestinal function, risk of aspiration, determination of sarcopenia and frailty, and risk of refeeding syndrome for nutrition assessment. Further research is needed to identify suitable nutrition monitoring indicators to determine the response to the provision of nutrition.

Improving the standard of nutrition care in hospital: Mealtime barriers reduced with implementation of the Integrated Nutrition Pathway for Acute Care

BACKGROUND

Poor food intake is common in hospital patients and is associated with adverse patient and healthcare outcomes; diverse mealtime barriers to intake often undermine clinical nutrition care.

AIM

This study determines whether implementation of locally adaptable nutrition care activities as part of uptake of the Integrated Nutrition Pathway for Acute Care (INPAC) reduced mealtime barriers and improved other patient outcomes (e.g. length of stay; LOS) when considering other covariates.

METHODS

1250 medical patients from 5 Canadian hospitals were recruited for this before-after time series design. Mealtime barriers were tallied with the Mealtime Audit Tool after a meal, while proportion of the meal consumed was assessed with the My Meal Intake Tool. Implementation of new standard care activities occurred over 12 months and three periods (pre-, early, and late) of implementation were compared. Regression analyses determined the effect of time period while adjusting for key covariates.

RESULTS

Mealtime barriers were reduced over time periods (Period 1 = 2.5 S.D. 2.1; Period 3 = 1.8 S.D. 1.7) and site differences were noted. This decrease was statistically significant in regression analyses (-0.28 per time period; 95% CI -0.44, -0.11). Within and across site changes were also observed over time in meal intake and LOS; however, after adjusting for covariates, time period of implementation was not significantly associated with these outcomes.

DISCUSSION

Mealtime barriers can be reduced and sustained by implementing improved standard care procedures for patients. The More-2-Eat study provides an example of how to implement changes in practice to support the prevention and treatment of malnutrition.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Retrospectively registered ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02800304, June 7, 2016.

Is continuing medical education sufficient? Assessing the clinical nutrition knowledge of medical doctors

OBJECTIVES

Provision of nutritional support (NS) can improve disease outcome and shorten hospital length of stay. NS, often prescribed by medical doctors, requires adequate clinical nutrition (CN) expertise. The aim of this study was to investigate self-perceived and actual CN knowledge among medical doctors in Greece.

METHODS

Internal medicine physicians and surgical specialties (residents and specialized) were asked to self-evaluate their CN expertise, via a seven-item questionnaire and to complete a 20-question multiple-choice test on CN topics, with the aim of evaluating their actual CN knowledge. Participants were discouraged from accessing literature/information during the completion of either questionnaire.

RESULTS

Of 182 invited medical doctors, 115 (50.4% surgical specialties) participated in the study (63.2% response rate). The majority of participants (65.2%) demonstrated inadequate CN knowledge, with 30.4% of those scoring low having a high self-perception of their CN expertise. Comparison of perceived and actual CN knowledge revealed that only 56.5% of the participants estimated their knowledge correctly. Those who had participated in CN continuous medical education courses demonstrated increased related expertise (P = 0.002).

CONCLUSIONS

Medical doctors in Greece demonstrate low knowledge of fundamental CN principles, jeopardizing the provision of high-quality and efficient NS. Most importantly, the majority of participants overestimated their CN knowledge and prescribe artificial nutrition or participate in related decision making. Physicians' CN knowledge should be enhanced accordingly, either by attending CN modules during their studies, by participating in basic and advanced courses or CN-specific continuous medical education, or both.

The ageing pancreas: a systematic review of the evidence and analysis of the consequences

Senior people constitute the fastest growing segment of the population. The elderly are at risk for malnutrition, thought to be caused by reduced food intake or involution of the physiological capacity of the GI tract. Age-related changes are well known in other secretory organs such as liver, kidney and intestine. The pancreas, representing a metabolically active organ with uptake and breakdown of essential nutritional components, changes its morphology and function with age. During childhood, the volume of the pancreas increases, reaching a plateau between 20 and 60 years, and declines thereafter. This decline involves the pancreatic parenchyma and is associated with decreased perfusion, fibrosis and atrophy. As a consequence of these changes, pancreatic exocrine function is impaired in healthy older individuals without any gastrointestinal disease. Five per cent of people older than 70 years and ten per cent older than 80 years have pancreatic exocrine insufficiency (PEI) with a faecal elastase-1 below 200 μg g-1 stool, and 5% have severe PEI with faecal elastase-1 below 100 μg g-1 stool. This may lead to maldigestion and malnutrition. Patients may have few symptoms, for example steatorrhoea, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and weight loss. Malnutrition consists of deficits of fat-soluble vitamins and is affecting both patients with PEI and the elderly. Secondary consequences may include decreased bone mineral density and results from impaired absorption of fat-soluble vitamin D due to impaired pancreatic exocrine function. The unanswered question is whether this age-related decrease in pancreatic function warrants therapy. Therapeutic intervention, which may consist of supplementation of pancreatic enzymes and/or vitamins in aged individuals with proven exocrine pancreas insufficiency, could contribute to healthy ageing.

Association of energy and protein intakes with length of stay, readmission and mortality in hospitalised patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Low energy and protein intakes have been associated with an increased risk of malnutrition in outpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We aimed to assess the energy and protein intakes of hospitalised COPD patients according to nutritional risk status and requirements, and the relative contribution from meals, snacks, drinks and oral nutritional supplements (ONS), and to examine whether either energy or protein intake predicts outcomes. Subjects were COPD patients (n 99) admitted to Landspitali University Hospital in 1 year (March 2015–March 2016). Patients were screened for nutritional risk using a validated screening tool, and energy and protein intake for 3 d, 1–5 d after admission to the hospital, was estimated using a validated plate diagram sheet. The percentage of patients reaching energy and protein intake ≥75 % of requirements was on average 59 and 37 %, respectively. Malnourished patients consumed less at mealtimes and more from ONS than lower-risk patients, resulting in no difference in total energy and protein intakes between groups. No clear associations between energy or protein intake and outcomes were found, although the association between energy intake, as percentage of requirement, and mortality at 12 months of follow-up was of borderline significance (OR 0·12; 95 % CI 0·01, 1·15; P=0·066). Energy and protein intakes during hospitalisation in the study population failed to meet requirements. Further studies are needed on how to increase energy and protein intakes during hospitalisation and after discharge and to assess whether higher intake in relation to requirement of hospitalised COPD patients results in better outcomes.

A clinical nutritional information system with personalized nutrition assessment

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Traditional nutrition evaluations not only require the use of numerous tables and lists to provide sufficient recommendations for patients' diets but are also very time-consuming due to cross-referencing and calculations.

METHODS

To personalize patient assessments, this study implemented a Clinical Nutritional Information System (CNIS) to help hospital dietitians perform their daily work more effectively in terms of time management and paper work. The CNIS mainly targets in-patients who require cancer-nutrition counselling. The development of the CNIS occurred in three phases. Phase 1 included system design and implementation based on the Nutrition Care Process and Model (NCPM) and the Patient Nutrition Care Process. Phase 2 involved a survey to characterize the efficiency, quality and accuracy of the CNIS. In Phase 3, a second survey was conducted to determine how well dietitians had adapted to the system and the extent of improvement in efficiency after the CNIS had been available online for three years.

RESULTS

The work time requirements decreased by approximately 58% with the assistance of the CNIS. Of the dietitians who used the CNIS, 95% reported satisfaction, with 91.66% indicating that the CNIS was really helpful in their work. However, some shortcomings were also evident according to the results.

CONCLUSIONS

Dietitians favoured the standardization of nutritional intervention and monitoring. The CNIS meets the needs of dietitians by increasing the quality of nutritional interventions by providing accurate calculations and cross-referencing for information regarding patients' conditions, with the benefit of decreasing the processing time, such as handwritten documentation. In addition, the CNIS also helps dietitians statistically analyse each patient's personal nutritional needs to achieve nutritional improvement.

Prevalence of Malnutrition in Hospitalized Patients: a Multicenter Cross-sectional Study

BACKGROUND

Malnutrition is associated with many adverse clinical outcomes. The present study aimed to identify the prevalence of malnutrition in hospitalized patients in Korea, evaluate the association between malnutrition and clinical outcomes, and ascertain the risk factors of malnutrition.

METHODS

A multicenter cross-sectional study was performed with 300 patients recruited from among the patients admitted in 25 hospitals on January 6, 2014. Nutritional status was assessed by using the Subjective Global Assessment (SGA). Demographic characteristics and underlying diseases were compared according to nutritional status. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the risk factors of malnutrition. Clinical outcomes such as rate of admission in intensive care units, length of hospital stay, and survival rate were evaluated.

RESULTS

The prevalence of malnutrition in the hospitalized patients was 22.0%. Old age (≥ 70 years), admission for medical treatment or diagnostic work-up, and underlying pulmonary or oncological disease were associated with malnutrition. Old age and admission for medical treatment or diagnostic work-up were identified to be risk factors of malnutrition in the multivariate analysis. Patients with malnutrition had longer hospital stay (SGA A = 7.63 ± 6.03 days, B = 9.02 ± 9.96 days, and C = 12.18 ± 7.24 days, P = 0.018) and lower 90-day survival rate (SGA A = 97.9%, B = 90.7%, and C = 58.3%, P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Malnutrition was common in hospitalized patients, and resulted in longer hospitalization and associated lower survival rate. The rate of malnutrition tended to be higher when the patient was older than 70 years old or hospitalized for medical treatment or diagnostic work-up compared to elective surgery.

Factors affecting patient and nursing staff adherence to an integrated physical activity and nutritional intervention targeting functional decline on an acute medical ward: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Medical patients are particularly at risk of developing complications during and after hospitalization, due to impaired nutritional intake, physical inactivity, or immobilization. Evaluations of implementation studies on health-promoting interventions for medical patients in hospitals are scarce. The aim of this study was to identify factors affecting the adherence of patients and staff to an integrated physical activity and nutritional intervention on a medical ward.

METHODS

Two focus group interviews were conducted: one with patients and another with staff. Three individual telephone interviews were conducted, as three patients were not available at the time of the group interview. An inductive thematic analysis was fundamental to the findings of the study.

FINDINGS

Nine themes describe factors affecting adherence to integrated physical activity and nutrition intervention. Positive factors described by the patients were new knowledge and insight, and that they felt seen and believed in, which made a significant difference to their motivation. The nursing staff felt that the intervention provided important knowledge related to daily practice, prevented bad consciences due to time issues, and that they experienced happier and more active patients. Both staff and patients found that the approaches of the physiotherapist and the dietician positively changed their behavior, however staff members experienced limited resources as a barrier, and a lack of knowledge seemed to hinder full integration of the intervention. Patients reported that their illness situation, "being on their own," and failure to negotiate a shared goal with the project staff were barriers to adherence.

CONCLUSIONS

Both the nursing staff and patients described positive experiences with the integration of a multifaceted health promotion intervention on physical activity and nutrition, however the nursing staff did not fully participate in the intervention and patient adherence differed; particularly, it tended to diminish when the patients were expected to act on their own.

Impact and outcomes of nutritional support team intervention in patients with gastrointestinal disease in the intensive care unit

Nutritional support has become an important intervention for critically ill patients. Many studies have reported on the effects of nutritional support for the patients within the intensive care unit (ICU); however, no studies have specifically assessed patients with gastrointestinal diseases who may have difficulty absorbing enteral nutrition (EN) in the ICU.Sixty-two patients with gastrointestinal disease were admitted to the ICU between August 2014 and August 2016 at a single tertiary university hospital. We analyzed 2 different patient groups in a retrospective cohort study: those who received nutritional support team (NST) intervention and those who did not.Forty-four (71.0%) patients received nutritional support in ICU and 18 (29.0%) did not. Variables including male sex, high albumin or prealbumin level at the time of ICU admission, and short transition period into EN showed statistically significant association with lower mortality on the univariate analysis (all P < .05). Multivariate analysis revealed that longer length of hospital stay (P = .013; hazard ratio [HR], 0.972; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.951-0.994), shorter transition into EN (P = .014; HR, 1.040; 95% CI, 1.008-1.072), higher prealbumin level (P = .049; HR, 0.988; 95% CI, 0.976-1.000), and NST intervention (P = .022; HR, 0.356; 95% CI, 0.147-0.862) were independent prognostic factors for lower mortality.In conclusion, NST intervention related to early initiated EN, and high prealbumin levels are beneficial to decrease mortality in the acutely ill patients with GI disease.

Effects of Enteral Immunonutrition in Esophageal Cancer

Background

Immunonutrition (IN) significantly reduces the incidence of postoperative infectious complications and the length of hospitalization in patients undergoing major elective surgery for gastrointestinal malignances. However, the clinical benefit of IN in patients who have undergone esophagectomy for esophageal cancer is unclear. Moreover, the effect of enteral IN in patients during preoperative adjuvant chemoradiotherapy and in patients treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy for advanced esophageal cancer is unknown.

Summary

This review analyzes the evidence supporting the enteral administration of IN in patients who have undergone esophagectomy and/or chemoradiotherapy for esophageal cancer. Twelve trials that evaluated IN exclusively in patients who underwent esophagectomy were published between January 1980 and August 2017. Two trials concerning IN during chemoradiotherapy for esophageal cancer were identified in the same period. However, the evidence is insufficient to recommend enteral IN in patients who have undergone esophagectomy and/or chemoradiotherapy for esophageal cancer.

Key Message

Further evidence from well-designed randomized controlled trials is required to verify the clinical benefits of enteral IN in patients undergoing esophagectomy and/or chemoradiotherapy for esophageal cancer.

Practical Implications

Resolvins, which are generated from EPA, are novel anti-inflammatory lipid mediators and may play a key role in the resolution of acute inflammation when IN is supplemented with EPA in patients undergoing severely stressful operations.

ESPEN guidelines on nutritional support for polymorbid internal medicine patients

BACKGROUND & AIMS

Polymorbidity (also known as multimorbidity) - defined as the co-occurrence of at least two chronic health conditions - is highly prevalent, particularly in the hospitalized population. Nonetheless, clinical guidelines largely address individual diseases and rarely account for polymorbidity. The aim of this project was to develop guidelines on nutritional support for polymorbid patients hospitalized in medical wards.

METHODS

The methodology used for the development of the current project follows the standard operating procedures for ESPEN guidelines. It started with an initial meeting of the Working Group in January 2015, where twelve key clinical questions were developed that encompassed different aspects of nutritional support: indication, route of feeding, energy and protein requirements, micronutrient requirements, disease-specific nutrients, timing, monitoring and procedure of intervention. Systematic literature searches were conducted in three different databases (Medline, Embase and the Cochrane Library), as well as in secondary sources (e.g. published guidelines), until April 2016. Retrieved abstracts were screened to identify relevant studies that were used to develop recommendations, which were followed by submission to Delphi voting rounds.

RESULTS

From a total of 4532 retrieved abstracts, 38 relevant studies were analyzed and used to generate a guideline draft that proposed 22 recommendations and four statements. The results of the first online voting showed a strong consensus (agreement of >90%) in 68% of recommendations and 75% of statements, and consensus (agreement of >75-90%) in 32% of recommendations and 25% of statements. At the final consensus conference, a consensus greater than 89% was reached for all of the recommendations.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite the methodological difficulties in creating non-disease specific guidelines, the evidence behind several important aspects of nutritional support for polymorbid medical inpatients was reviewed and summarized into practical clinical recommendations. Use of these guidelines offer an evidence-based nutritional approach to the polymorbid medical inpatient and may improve their outcomes.

Updates in Nutrition Support for Critically Ill Adult Patients

Specialized nutrition support is often employed in critically ill patients who are unable to maintain volitional intake. The Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) and American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (A.S.P.E.N.) recently updated guidelines for the provision of nutrition support in critically ill patients. The purpose of this review is to summarize key changes from the previous guidelines as they relate to recently published literature, which will aid the hospital pharmacist in optimizing nutrition support therapies in the critical care setting.

Nutrition support in hospitalised adults at nutritional risk

BACKGROUND

The prevalence of disease-related malnutrition in Western European hospitals is estimated to be about 30%. There is no consensus whether poor nutritional status causes poorer clinical outcome or if it is merely associated with it. The intention with all forms of nutrition support is to increase uptake of essential nutrients and improve clinical outcome. Previous reviews have shown conflicting results with regard to the effects of nutrition support.

OBJECTIVES

To assess the benefits and harms of nutrition support versus no intervention, treatment as usual, or placebo in hospitalised adults at nutritional risk.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) in the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE (Ovid SP), Embase (Ovid SP), LILACS (BIREME), and Science Citation Index Expanded (Web of Science). We also searched the World Health Organization International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (www.who.int/ictrp); ClinicalTrials.gov; Turning Research Into Practice (TRIP); Google Scholar; and BIOSIS, as well as relevant bibliographies of review articles and personal files. All searches are current to February 2016.

SELECTION CRITERIA

We include randomised clinical trials, irrespective of publication type, publication date, and language, comparing nutrition support versus control in hospitalised adults at nutritional risk. We exclude trials assessing non-standard nutrition support.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane and the Cochrane Hepato-Biliary Group. We used trial domains to assess the risks of systematic error (bias). We conducted Trial Sequential Analyses to control for the risks of random errors. We considered a P value of 0.025 or less as statistically significant. We used GRADE methodology. Our primary outcomes were all-cause mortality, serious adverse events, and health-related quality of life.

MAIN RESULTS

We included 244 randomised clinical trials with 28,619 participants that met our inclusion criteria. We considered all trials to be at high risk of bias. Two trials accounted for one-third of all included participants. The included participants were heterogenous with regard to disease (20 different medical specialties). The experimental interventions were parenteral nutrition (86 trials); enteral nutrition (tube-feeding) (80 trials); oral nutrition support (55 trials); mixed experimental intervention (12 trials); general nutrition support (9 trials); and fortified food (2 trials). The control interventions were treatment as usual (122 trials); no intervention (107 trials); and placebo (15 trials). In 204/244 trials, the intervention lasted three days or more.We found no evidence of a difference between nutrition support and control for short-term mortality (end of intervention). The absolute risk was 8.3% across the control groups compared with 7.8% (7.1% to 8.5%) in the intervention groups, based on the risk ratio (RR) of 0.94 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.86 to 1.03, P = 0.16, 21,758 participants, 114 trials, low quality of evidence). We found no evidence of a difference between nutrition support and control for long-term mortality (maximum follow-up). The absolute risk was 13.2% in the control group compared with 12.2% (11.6% to 13%) following nutritional interventions based on a RR of 0.93 (95% CI 0.88 to 0.99, P = 0.03, 23,170 participants, 127 trials, low quality of evidence). Trial Sequential Analysis showed we only had enough information to assess a risk ratio reduction of approximately 10% or more. A risk ratio reduction of 10% or more could be rejected.We found no evidence of a difference between nutrition support and control for short-term serious adverse events. The absolute risk was 9.9% in the control groups versus 9.2% (8.5% to 10%), with nutrition based on the RR of 0.93 (95% CI 0.86 to 1.01, P = 0.07, 22,087 participants, 123 trials, low quality of evidence). At long-term follow-up, the reduction in the risk of serious adverse events was 1.5%, from 15.2% in control groups to 13.8% (12.9% to 14.7%) following nutritional support (RR 0.91, 95% CI 0.85 to 0.97, P = 0.004, 23,413 participants, 137 trials, low quality of evidence). However, the Trial Sequential Analysis showed we only had enough information to assess a risk ratio reduction of approximately 10% or more. A risk ratio reduction of 10% or more could be rejected.Trial Sequential Analysis of enteral nutrition alone showed that enteral nutrition might reduce serious adverse events at maximum follow-up in people with different diseases. We could find no beneficial effect of oral nutrition support or parenteral nutrition support on all-cause mortality and serious adverse events in any subgroup.Only 16 trials assessed health-related quality of life. We performed a meta-analysis of two trials reporting EuroQoL utility score at long-term follow-up and found very low quality of evidence for effects of nutritional support on quality of life (mean difference (MD) -0.01, 95% CI -0.03 to 0.01; 3961 participants, two trials). Trial Sequential Analyses showed that we did not have enough information to confirm or reject clinically relevant intervention effects on quality of life.Nutrition support may increase weight at short-term follow-up (MD 1.32 kg, 95% CI 0.65 to 2.00, 5445 participants, 68 trials, very low quality of evidence).

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

There is low-quality evidence for the effects of nutrition support on mortality and serious adverse events. Based on the results of our review, it does not appear to lead to a risk ratio reduction of approximately 10% or more in either all-cause mortality or serious adverse events at short-term and long-term follow-up.There is very low-quality evidence for an increase in weight with nutrition support at the end of treatment in hospitalised adults determined to be at nutritional risk. The effects of nutrition support on all remaining outcomes are unclear.Despite the clinically heterogenous population and the high risk of bias of all included trials, our analyses showed limited signs of statistical heterogeneity. Further trials may be warranted, assessing enteral nutrition (tube-feeding) for different patient groups. Future trials ought to be conducted with low risks of systematic errors and low risks of random errors, and they also ought to assess health-related quality of life.

Impact of Nutritional Intervention on Length of Hospital Stay and Mortality among Hospitalized Patients with Malnutrition: A Clinical Randomized Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of a nutritional intervention on hospital stay and mortality among hospitalized patients with malnutrition.

METHODS

Hospitalized patients with a diagnosis of malnutrition were enrolled and randomly allocated to either an intervention or control group. Participants in the intervention group received an individualized nutrition plan according to energy and protein (1.0-1.5 g/kg) intake requirements as well as dietary advice based on face-to-face interviews with patients and their caregivers or family members. Individuals in the control group received standard nutritional management according to the Hospital Nutrition Department. Nutritional status and disease severity were assessed using nutritional risk screening. Length of hospital stay was defined by the number of days of hospitalization from hospital admission to medical discharge. Reference to another service or death were criteria for study withdrawal. To evaluate mortality, individuals were followed up for 6 months after hospital discharge. Hospital stay and mortality were the intention-to-treat analysis.

RESULTS

A total of 55 patients with an average age of 57.1 ± 20.7 years were included into intervention (n = 28) and control (n = 27) groups, respectively. At basal condition, nutritional status, measured by nutritional risk screening score, was similar between the study groups (4.1 ± 0.8 vs 4.2 ± 1.2, p = 0.6). The average hospital stay was lower in the intervention group compared to the control group (6.4 ± 3.0 vs 8.4 ± 4.0 days, p = 0.03). Finally, the mortality rate at 6 months of follow-up was similar in both groups (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.85; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.17-4.21).

CONCLUSIONS

Results of this study suggest that, in hospitalized patients with malnutrition, nutritional intervention and dietary advice decrease hospital stay but not mortality.

Nutritional Risk Screening 2002, Short Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire, Malnutrition Screening Tool, and Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool Are Good Predictors of Nutrition Risk in an Emergency Service

BACKGROUND

There is an international consensus that nutrition screening be performed at the hospital; however, there is no "best tool" for screening of malnutrition risk in hospitalized patients.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate (1) the accuracy of the MUST (Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool), MST (Malnutrition Screening Tool), and SNAQ (Short Nutritional Assessment Questionnaire) in comparison with the NRS-2002 (Nutritional Risk Screening 2002) to identify patients at risk of malnutrition and (2) the ability of these nutrition screening tools to predict morbidity and mortality.

METHODS

A specific questionnaire was administered to complete the 4 screening tools. Outcomes measures included length of hospital stay, transfer to the intensive care unit, presence of infection, and incidence of death.

RESULTS

A total of 752 patients were included. The nutrition risk was 29.3%, 37.1%, 33.6%, and 31.3% according to the NRS-2002, MUST, MST, and SNAQ, respectively. All screening tools showed satisfactory performance to identify patients at nutrition risk (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve between 0.765-0.808). Patients at nutrition risk showed higher risk of very long length of hospital stay as compared with those not at nutrition risk, independent of the tool applied (relative risk, 1.35-1.78). Increased risk of mortality (2.34 times) was detected by the MUST.

CONCLUSION

The MUST, MST, and SNAQ share similar accuracy to the NRS-2002 in identifying risk of malnutrition, and all instruments were positively associated with very long hospital stay. In clinical practice, the 4 tools could be applied, and the choice for one of them should be made per the particularities of the service.

Comparison of multi-modal early oral nutrition for the tolerance of oral nutrition with conventional care after major abdominal surgery: a prospective, randomized, single-blind trial

Background & aims

Early oral nutrition (EON) has been shown to improve recovery of gastrointestinal function, length of stay and mortality after abdominal surgery; however, early oral nutrition often fails during the first week after surgery. Here, a multi-modal early oral nutrition program is introduced to promote recovery of gastrointestinal function and tolerance of oral nutrition.

Methods

Consecutive patients scheduled for abdominal surgery were randomized to the multimodal EON group or a group receiving conventional care. The primary endpoint was the time of first defecation. The secondary endpoints were outcomes and the cost-effectiveness ratio in treating infectious complications. The rate of infectious-free patients was regarded as the index of effectiveness.

Results

One hundred seven patients were randomly assigned to groups. Baseline characteristics were similar for both groups. In intention-to-treat analysis, the success rate of oral nutrition during the first week after surgery in the multimodal EON group was 44 (83.0%) versus 31 (57.4%) in the conventional care group (P = 0.004). Time to first defecation, time to flatus, recovery time of bowel sounds, and prolonged postoperative ileus were all less in the multimodal EON group (P < 0.05). The median postoperative length of stay in the multimodal EON group was 8 days (6, 12) versus 10 days (7, 18) in the conventional care group (P < 0.001). The total cost of treatment and nutritional support were also less in the multi-modal early oral nutrition group (P < 0.001). The effectiveness was 84.9 and 79.9% in the multimodal EON and conventional care group, respectively (P = 0.475). However, the cost-effectiveness ratio was USD 537.6 (506.1, 589.3) and USD 637.8 (593.9, 710.3), respectively (P < 0.001).

Conclusion

The multi-modal early oral nutrition program was an effective way to improve tolerance of oral nutrition during the first week after surgery, decrease the length of stay and improve cost-effectiveness after abdominal surgery.

Trial registration

Registration number: ChiCTR-TRC-14004395. Registered 15 March 2014.