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

Abstract

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