Nutritional risk in hospitalized patients: impact of nutritional status on serum prealbumin

OBJECTIVE: Poor recognition and monitoring of nutritional status is the most important cause of malnutrition in hospitalized patients. The aim of this study was to assess the nutritional status of a group of patients and compare the results with their serum prealbumin levels. METHODS: Ninety-seven patients admitted consecutively to the hospital were enrolled in the study. The risk of malnutrition was assessed according to anthropometric data and the Subjective Global Assessment and Nutrition Risk Screening 2002 tools. The nutritional statuses of the patients were compared with their age, gender, body mass index, medical history, weight loss and routine biochemical analyses, including prealbumin and length of hospital stay. RESULTS: According to the Nutrition Risk Screening 2002, 57% of the patients were malnourished or at risk of malnutrition, correlating well with the Subjective Global Assessment (p