HN-01190272_Prevalence of Malnutrition among Hospitalized Patients in Imam Reza Hospital, Tabriz, Iran

Introduction: Malnutrition is associated with harmful results and high economic costs. The prevalence of malnutrition is still unidentified. Tis study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of malnutrition among people on admission to Tabriz Imam Reza hospital.Methods: The patient-generated subjective global assessment (PG-SGA) tool was used for malnutrition risk screening in a large hospital setting involving 11 medical wards in Tabriz, Iran. Four-hundred non- complete bed rest (CBR) patients were randomly included in the study. Clinical data, including appetite and demographic status were collected within 24 hours of admission.Results: The mean age of participants was 47.33±16.25 years old. There were 195 males and 204 females. About 5.3 % had a ‘normal’ nutritional status, 20.3 % were ‘mildly malnourished’, 51.8 % were ‘moderately malnourished’ and 22.3 % were ‘severely malnourished’. About 3.5 % of patients had BMI<18.4, 34.8 % had BMI between 18.5-24.9, 40.8% had BMI of 25-29.9, and 19.8% of them had BMI> 30. Mid−upper arm circumference (MUAC) indicated 5.3% (21 patients) under percentile 5th and 94.7% (378 patients) over the percentile 5th.Conclusions: Malnutrition, weight loss, and nutritional problems are common in Iranian hospitalized patients and can be identified by timely and regular evaluation using PG-SGA to identify nutritional abnormalities in hospitalized patients and utilize beneficial interventions by determining the course of treatment and follow-up as well as priorities of treatment and nutritional care. It is recommended that nutritional screening be performed using a simple procedure like PG-SGA at the time of hospital admission.