A nutritional study of 45 elderly patients admitted to o general medical ward

• Autor(a) principal: Moraes, M. F.
• Data de Publicação: 1998
• Outros Autores: Sousa, S. S., Matos, R., Damas, C., Ribeiro, T., Moreira, O., Rodrigues, G., Beato, V., Lérias, G., Aguiar, P., Pimenta da Graça, J., Abecasis, P.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://revista.spmi.pt/index.php/rpmi/article/view/2156
• topic: nutrição; idosos; medições an­tropométricas; albumina; transferrina; pré­ albumina; proteína fixadora do retinol; nutrition; elderly; anthropometry; albumin; transferrin; pre-albumin; retinol bin­ding protein

Introduction: This paper reviews the problems associated with the diagnosis of under-nutrition in the hospitalise bedridden, elderly patient. It aims to assess the nutritional status of patients aged 65 years or older, admitted to the general me­dical ward of a Central Hospital. Methodology: The triceps skinfold thickness (TST) and mid­arm circumference were measured using the standard manner and the midarm muscle cir­cumference (MAMC) calculated using the re­ commended formula. The TST or the MAMC were considered diminished when below the 10th percentile of the reference table, matched for age and sex. The albumin, transferrin, pre-al­bumin, retinol binding protein, haemoglobin, total number of lymphocytes and total cholesterol were also measured and compared to the hospital's laboratory reference values. Results: The percentage of undernourished patients, in accordance with the previously defined parameters, revealed a wide range of values, varying from 11,1 to 35,6 %, with respect to each of the anthropometric values measure · andfrom 30,6 to 88,6 % with respect to each of the laboratoty values. Discussion andconclusion: There is no single anthropometric measure­ ment or laboratory parameter, that is, in iso­lation, a good indicator of the nutritional status in an individual patient. There is a large disparity between the information given by each variable in relation to the nutritional status of an individual pattent. ln the elderly, bedri­dden pattent, who often has a serious inter­ current illness that leads to hospitalisation, there is an urgent needfor the development of a nutritional índex which could be used in daily clinical practice. Furthermore, there is a gre­at need for large-scale anthropometric studi­es in bealthy adults, in particular in the elderly population, in Portugal the correct iden­tification of under-nutrition in individual ca­ses and groups of patients needs to be made.