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Prevalence of undernutrition in surgical patients and the effect on length of hospital stay

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Abstract

Background

Low nutritional status is common among surgical patients. A low nutrition profile is related to muscle weakness and immune suppression, which may be associated with negative outcomes. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence of low nutrition and assessed the relationship between nutritional status and length of hospital stay in surgical patients.

Methods

The study participants were patients who underwent abdominal surgery between 2016 and 2018 at our hospital. The Mini Nutritional Status Short-Form score and patient demographics, including current medical status, were extracted from the medical records. Data on anesthesia time, blood loss, and use of epidural anesthesia were also recorded. The primary study outcome was the difference in length of hospitalization from the standard duration (hospitalization = actual length of hospitalization—standard length of hospitalization).

Results

Eight hundred and thirty five patients met the inclusion criteria. Their nutritional status was classified as normal (59.0%), at risk (29.6%), or malnutrition (11.4%). Linear regression analysis revealed that nutritional status, serum albumin level, and anesthesia time were associated with the length of hospital stay.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that a low nutrition profile before surgery is associated with a prolonged hospital stay.

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Data sharing

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

Abbreviations

MNA-SF:

Mini nutritional assessment short-form

OSS:

Operative stress score

CPT:

Current procedural terminology

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Editage (https://www.editage.jp) for English language review.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, Nara Medical University, 840 Shijo-cho, Kashihara, Nara, Japan

    Yusuke Naito, Mitsuru Ida & Masahiko Kawaguchi

  2. Course of Perianesthesia Nursing, Graduate School of Nursing, Nara Medical University, Nara, Japan

    Xiaoying Wang & Hitomi Nakatani

Authors
  1. Xiaoying Wang
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  2. Yusuke Naito
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  3. Hitomi Nakatani
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  4. Mitsuru Ida
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  5. Masahiko Kawaguchi
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Contributions

WX: data collection and data analysis; YN: study design, writing the first draft of the paper; HN: data analysis; MI: statistical analysis, making advice for writing the first draft of the paper; MK: reviewing the first draft of the paper and rewriting. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yusuke Naito.

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Wang, X., Naito, Y., Nakatani, H. et al. Prevalence of undernutrition in surgical patients and the effect on length of hospital stay. J Anesth 36, 89–95 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00540-021-03013-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00540-021-03013-8

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