engleski

Nutritional screening of patients undergoing surgery or oncological treatment in four hospital centers in Croatia

To identify malnourished patients or those at risk of becoming malnourished at four hospitals in Croatia. A study was done through our nutritional screening questionnaire. It included 1639 adult patients either scheduled for various surgical treatments (n=1475) or oncological patients (n=164) receiving primary or adjuvant radio- and/or chemotherapy. The nutritional screening questionnaire consisted of data on recent reduced food intake and weight loss, body mass index, estimated period of perioperative fasting or oncological disease status, categorization of surgical procedure or additional stress expected. Each component was rated on a scale of 0 to 2 or 3. A score value of seven points was chosen as the borderline value between patients at risk of malnutrition (score less than or equal to 7) or those at no such risk (score points 8 to 11). Moreover, the questionnaire also required data concerning blood albumin, blood urea, blood lymphocyte count, blood creatinine and total patient evaluation by the physician. In total, 23% (373/1639) of the analyzed patients may be considered as at risk of malnutrition. The obtained data suggest that the applied screening questionnaire may be used for identifying patients at risk of malnutrition.

Croatia; deficiency diseases; nutritional status; patients; perioperative care; questionnaires

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