Assessment of protein-energy malnutrition and its severity in hospitalized elderly patients

Abstract

The objective of this study is to assess protein-energy malnutrition and to determine its severity in hospitalized elderly patients compared with an outpatient group. The study included 158 patients aged 65 and over whith 79 hospitalized and 79 external consultant. Albumin, prealbumin, C-Reactive Protein and orosomucoid were measured by immunoturbidimetric assay. The prognostic inflammatory and nutritional index was calculated for all patients. The malnutrition was defined by a concentration of Alb<35g/l. The prevalence of protein-energy malnutrition was 70.9% among hospitalized patients against 34.2% in ambulatory patients. 19% of the hospitalized patients had severe protein-energy malnutrition and 16.5% had even reached the threshold of gravity with a rate of Albumin < 25g/l. 15.19% of the hospitalized patients against 1.26% ambulatory patients had reached the vital risk (prognostic inflammatory and nutritional index > 30). Protein-energy malnutrition is especially common among hospitalized patients. Some patients have even reached the life-threatening. This malnutrition is the mode of entry into a vicious circle. The strict monitoring of malnutrition indicators is recommended to introduce at time an effective therapy.