Nutritional risk in the preoperative period

Background - Bad nutricional status in preoperative period - mainly associated to weight loss -, may lead to grater number of postoperative complications. Aim - To investigate the nutritional risk indicators in preoperative period, stratified by disease groups treated at the site. Methods - A total of 512 patients with the following conditions were assessed: acute abdomen, digestive tract diseases, biliary diseases, gynecological diseases, vascular diseases, hernias and traumas. The following data were analyzed: body mass index, recent weight loss, habitual energy intake, lymphocyte count and length of hospital stay. The data were compared among the disease groups. The chi-square test or Fisher's exact test when necessary was used to compare proportions. The significance level was set at 5%. Results - Trauma patients followed by those with digestive tract diseases and acute abdomen had significantly lower body mass index (P= 0.0222), and the ones with acute abdomen presented recent weight loss at hospital admittance (P= 0.0048). A greater percentage of severe and moderate immune depletion was seen in patients with acute abdomen (P< 0.0001) and those with vascular diseases had a greater percentage of patients with energy intake below 1000 kcalories (P= 0.0311). Trauma patients presented longer hospital stays (P< 0.0001). Conclusion - Trauma and acute abdomen patients had greater nutritional risk during the preoperative period. Thus, nutritional care strategies should be oriented towards them since the hospital admittance.