Prevalences of nutritional risk, undernutrition, overweight, and obesity as well as nutritional support in hospitalized general surgical patients in Beijing teaching hospitals

Objective: To determine the prevalences of nutritional risk, undernutrition, overweight, and obesity as well as nutritional support and the changes of nutritional risks from admission to discharge or over a two-week period. Methods: A consecutive sampling was performed. Data were collected from general surgical departments in three Beijing teaching hospitals from March to July in 2007. Patients were screened using Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS2002) on admission and two weeks after admission (or discharge). The nutritional support application during hospital stay was recorded. NRS2002 score ≥3 was classified as nutritional risk. BMI < 18.5 kg/m ² with impaired general condition was defined as undernutrition. Results: Among 300 enrolled patients, the NRS2002 was completed by 99.0% (297/300) of all patients. The nutritional risk and the prevalence of undernutrition, overweight, and obesity was 30.0%, 8.1%, 38.3%, and 9.4%, respectively at admission. Fifty of 90 (62.2%) patients who were at nutritional risk received nutritional support while 40 of 210 (19.0%) non-risk patients received nutritional support. Especially among major abdominal surgery patients, 56 of 90 (71.6%) patients who were at nutritional risk received nutritional support while 35 of 81 (43.2%) non-risk patients received nutritional support. The prevalence of nutritional risk changed from 30.0% to 35.8% (X ² = 2.271, P = 0.132). Conclusions: NRS2002 is a feasible nutritional risk screening tool among general surgical patients in selected Beijing teaching hospitals. Nutritional support is somehow inappropriately applied in general surgical hospitalized patients. The prevalence of nutritional risk remains unchanged in general surgical patients during hospitalization.