Several studies have shown the serious implications of malnutrition, yet it is still underestimated, understudied and an undertreated problem in hospitalized patients. It remains a challenge for hospitals in the Philippines. Pre operative malnutrition is a risk factor of perioperative morbidity and mortality. Thus, assessing the pre operative nutritional status is necessary in planning early nutritional interventions and may predict risk of developing postoperative complications.

A prospective cohort study was conducted among adult patients ages 18 to 70 years old admitted for abdominopelvic surgery at St. Paul’s Hospital Iloilo from January 2021 to January 2022. Within 24-48 hours of admission, patients’ demographic and clinical profiles were identified and the presence of nutritional risk was evaluated using the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST). Further statistical analysis was done using cross tabulation, and Pearson’s chi-square and logistic regression.

The study demonstrated that nutritional risk, age, presence of malignancy, smoking and alcoholic beverage drinking were significantly correlated with post-operative complications.

Nutritional risk screening using MUST pre-operatively can help predict the outcomes of post-operative patients undergoing abdominopelvic operation.