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Nutrition Status and Length of Hospital Stay

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Diet and Nutrition in Critical Care

Abstract

The length of hospital stay reflects the response to treatment, which in turn is directly influenced by the patient’s nutritional status. Although the reported prevalences of hospital-associated malnutrition vary greatly depending on practice and assessment instrument, the association between malnutrition and length of stay is consistent and has always been confirmed by studies that aimed to investigate this association. Longer hospital stays can be avoided by performing a thorough screening and monitoring of the patient’s nutritional status, along with early introduction of nutritional therapy to correct existing deficiencies. This measure is not taken very often, but its need is recognized.

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Abbreviations

BMI:

Body mass index

MNA:

Mini Nutritional Assessment

MUST:

Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool

NRS-2002:

Nutritional Risk Screening 2002

NST:

Nutrition screening tool

SGA:

Subjective Global Assessment

SGA/PG-SGA:

Patient-generated SGA adapted from the SGA specifically for cancer patients

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nutrition, Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas-SP-Brazil, Av. Carlos Grimaldi, 1171, D-13, Bairro: Jardim Madalena, Residencial Vila Verde, 13091-906, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    Vania Aparecida Leandro-Merhi

  2. School of Medicine, Surgery Department, Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas-SP-Brazil, Rua Boaventura do Amaral, 119, apto: 12, 13015-192, Campinas, SP, Brazil

    José Luiz Braga de Aquino

  3. School of Nutrition, Unesp-Botucatu-SP-Brazil, Distrito de Rubião Junior, s/n, 18618-000, Botucatu, SP, Brazil

    Maria Rita Marques de Oliveira

Authors
  1. Vania Aparecida Leandro-Merhi
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  2. José Luiz Braga de Aquino
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  3. Maria Rita Marques de Oliveira
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vania Aparecida Leandro-Merhi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Royal Free London Hospitals, Barnet General Hospital, London, UK

    Rajkumar Rajendram

  2. Division of Diabetes & Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK

    Rajkumar Rajendram

  3. King Khalid University Hospital, King Saud University Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Rajkumar Rajendram

  4. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Division of Diabetes & Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK

    Victor R. Preedy

  5. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Science & Technology, University of Westminster, London, UK

    Vinood B. Patel

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Leandro-Merhi, V.A., de Aquino, J.L.B., de Oliveira, M.R.M. (2015). Nutrition Status and Length of Hospital Stay. In: Rajendram, R., Preedy, V.R., Patel, V.B. (eds) Diet and Nutrition in Critical Care. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7836-2_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7836-2_5

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