malnutrition of patients in intensive care units of arak hospitals, in 1389

malnutrition of patients in intensive care units of arak hospitals, in 1389     ebrahimi fakhar h [1] , salemi z [2]     received: 12 mar, 2012 accepted: 25 jun , 2012     abstract   background & aims: this study was performed to determine the nutrition condition of intensive care units patients in arak hospitals in 1388.  materials & methods: in this sectional study 115 eligible patients (71male, 44 female) contributed, who had been hospitalized during 8 months in 1388 in intensive care units. serum prealbumin was used as measurement scale of survey to determine the nutrition condition of patients as they were hospitalized and 10 days after discharge.  result: the prevalence of malnutrition was 43.5% at patient acceptance time and 54.1% after 10 days. in spite of 10.6% increase of malnutrition within icu patients, statistically there was no significant difference (p=0.203). the incidence of malnutrition in aged patients after 10 days was more than young patients (0.001).  conclusion: according to the high prevalence of malnutrition at patient acceptance point and its effects, it is required to examine the malnutrition condition of patents at acceptance time, and appropriate nutrition programs should be applied to protect vulnerable patients. the increase of malnutrition, particularly old patients, can be an evidence for inappropriate nutrition during hospitalization. it requires elevated awareness of treatment team about malnutrition in hospitalized patients.  key words: malnutrition, intensive care unit, prealbumin     address: faculty of nursing and midwifery arak university of medical sciences, arak.   tel: (+98)8614173503   email : [email protected]   [1] instructor, faculty of nursing and midwifery, arak university of medical sciences, arak.   [2] phd in bio chemistry, faculty of medicine arak university of medical sciences, arak.