Nutritional assessment in hospitalized patients of orthopedic ward at hospital admission and discharge time in Shohadaye Ashayer hospital

Background: Malnutrition is one of the significant factors in extending hospitalization period, augmenting disease complications, enhancing treatment and hospitalization costs, and increasing deaths in hospitals. This study was conducted to investigate patients, nutritional conditions, before and discharge time in the orthopedic ward of Shohadaye Ashayer hospital in 2010. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study 283 patients, aged 18 and over, in the orthopedic ward were selected.A previously developed questionnaire containing 15 quantitative and qualitative factors was completed for subjects in two stages (at their hospital admission and their discharge time). The patients, weight and height were also measured during these two stages. The collected data were then analyzed using SPSS software. Results: 12.7% of the patients had severe malnutrition, 7.4% had moderate malnutrition and 79.9% had mild malnutrition. The length of hospital stay was found to be an important factor in causing malnutrition. In this study significant statistical relationship was found between the length of hospital stay, sex, the recent 1-month weight loss, previous operation and the severity of malnutrition (P0.05). Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, it can be claimed that there is a significant statistical relationship between the length of hospital stay and the severity of malnutrition.