Food intake and weight loss of surviving inpatients in the course of COVID-19 infection: A longitudinal study of the multicenter NutriCoviD30 cohort

Objectives

NutriCoviD30 is a longitudinal multicenter cohort study that aimed to provide nutritional objective data of inpatients during COVID-19 infection. The aims of this study were to describe the nutritional effects of COVID-19 infection on adult inpatients on the short- to mid-term (≤30 d after hospital discharge), using food intake and weight measurements and to identify factors associated with a decrease in food intake and weight.

Methods

Food intake and weight trajectories, as well as clinical signs of the disease, preexisting chronic diseases, and nutritional strategies were collected and analyzed during the course of the disease. Their association was estimated using mixed-effect regression modeling. Patients were recruited from French university hospitals from May to July 2020. For the 403 included patients (mean 62.2  ± 14.2 y of age; 63% men), median (interquartile range [IQR]) hospital length of stay was 13 d (IQR = 8, 20), and 30% of patients were admitted to the intensive care unit.

Results

Patients declared a median 70% food intake decrease in the acute phase, and the disease resulted in an average loss of 8% of predisease weight (corresponding to –6.5 kg). Although most patients recovered their usual food intake 1 month after hospital discharge, they only regained half of their weight loss, such that malnutrition, which affected 67% of patients during hospitalization, persisted in 41%. Patients with overweight, obesity, and diabetes reported an additional weight loss of >1.5% of their initial bodyweight during hospitalization and recovery phase.

Conclusions

To prevent malnutrition and its long-term effects, mainly combined with a rapid weight loss predominantly affecting lean body mass, implementation of nutritional support is needed for COVID-19 inpatients. It should be started early in the course of the infection, and be extended up to the recovery phase.

The COVID-19 lockdown as an opportunity to change lifestyle and body weight in people with overweight/obesity and diabetes: Results from the national French COVIDIAB cohort

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

To analyze lifestyle habits and weight evolution during the COVID-19 pandemic-associated lockdown, in diabetes and overweight/obesity patients (body mass index (BMI) [25-29.9] and ≥30 kg/m², respectively).

METHODS AND RESULTS

We collected information on participants' characteristics and behavior regarding lifestyle before and during the lockdown, through the CoviDIAB web application, which is available freely for people with diabetes in France. We stratified the cohort according to BMI (≥25 kg/m²vs < 25 kg/m²) and examined the determinants of weight loss (WL), WL > 1 kg vs no-WL) in participants with a BMI ≥25 kg/m², in both univariate and multivariate analyses. Of the 5280 participants (mean age, 52.5 years; men, 49%; diabetes, 100% by design), 69.5% were overweight or obese (mean BMI, 28.6 kg/m² (6.1)). During the lockdown, patients often quit or decreased smoking; overweight/obese participants increased alcohol consumption less frequently as compared with normal BMI patients. In addition, overweight/obese patients were more likely to improve other healthy behaviors on a larger scale than patients with normal BMI: increased intake of fruits and vegetables, reduction of snacks intake, and reduction of total dietary intake. WL was observed in 18.9% of people with a BMI ≥25 kg/m², whereas 28.6% of them gained weight. Lifestyle favorable changes characterized patients with WL.

CONCLUSIONS

A significant proportion of overweight/obese patients with diabetes seized the opportunity of lockdown to improve their lifestyle and to lose weight. Identifying those people may help clinicians to personalize practical advice in the case of a recurrent lockdown.

NutriCoviD30 : étude nationale sur l’évaluation de l’état de santé et la prise en charge nutritionnelle à 1 mois d’une hospitalisation pour COVID-19

Introduction et but de l’étude

Matériel et méthodes

Résultats et analyse statistique

Conclusion

[Ethics and dietetics in the hospital]

The practice of hospital dietetics in children is a response to biological and nutritional concerns related to the pathology. It rarely takes into account any of the ethical questions, nevertheless essential, which arise in the relationship built around food. Through the perspective of nutritionists, researchers and philosophers, dietetics in hospital takes an ethical dimension.