OBJECTIVETo estimate prevalence of malnutrition on admission to hospital and the relationship between nutritional status and prognosis.

METHODSFour thousand and twelve patients admitted to general surgery department were evaluated by a lot of nutrition indexes within 48 h. Operative morbidity and complications were recorded to identify the difference between malnourished and well-nourished patients.

RESULTSMalnutrition rate of all patients according to BMI, TSF, MAC, AMC, albumin, prealbumin, and lymphocyte count was 21.3%, 50.6%, 20.5%, 21.2%, 24.2%, 35.4% and 55.8%, respectively. The prevalence of malnutrition as defined by SGA and MNA were 38.8% and 20.8%. The older patients (> 60 years old) were associated with a higher prevalence of malnutrition (47.6%) compared with those younger than 60 (31.5%). Malnutrition was more frequently occurred in cancer patients than non-oncologic patients (64.5% vs 22.4%). Patients with digestive tract disease had higher rates of malnutrition than those without digestive tract disease (52.6% vs 30.0%). There were large differences in the morbidity and complications between well nourished patients and malnourished patients (4.0% vs 1.1%, P < 0.01 for morbidity; 19.8% vs 5.9% for complications).

CONCLUSIONSThe prevalence of malnutrition in hospitalized surgical patients is high. Malnutrition was associated with increased length of stay, higher operative morbidity and complications.