Korean J Rehabil Nurs.  2003 Jun;6(1):14-25.

Evaluation of Nutritional Status of Inpatients with Medical Health Problems

• Hwang ES
• Kim JS
• Shin JS

Abstract

PURPOSE: To investigate nutritional status of inpatients by using subjective. and objective evaluation methods and to find the relationship between them. METHOD: The subjects were 101 inpatients with medical health problems at a university hospital. Nutritional status was evaluated by the Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) and physical assessment including percentage of weight loss, serum albumin, hemogloin, and hematocrit. Data were analyzed using frequency, percentage, mean, Kendall's tau.
RESULTS
Grouping by the SGA, 61.4% were classified as severe malnutrition group. When applying the objective methods{physical assessment). 1.9~42.6% were diagnosed as malnutrition each item. The percentage of weight loss during previous 1-6month(r=.43~.54. P=.0001), serum albumin(r=-.26, P=.0003), hemoglobin of male(r=-.38, P=.0001), and hematocrit of male(r=-.34, P=.0001) were significantly correlated with SGA score. The coincidence rate of nutrition evaluation between the objective methods and SGA were 27.7 35.6%, 20.8%, 47.5%, 58.4% in percentage of weight loss, albumin, hemoglobin, and hematocrit.
CONCLUSION
These findings showed a majority of inpatients were exposed to the risk of malnutrition. We recommend to evaluate inpatients' nutritional status periodically and to develop nursing intervention to solve their nutritional problems.

MeSH Terms

Hematocrit
Humans
Inpatients*
Malnutrition
Nursing
Nutritional Status*
Serum Albumin
Weight Loss
Serum Albumin