Impact of the nutritional status and fasting time in gastrointestinal complications and length of hospital stay in surgical patients

• Autor(a) principal: Araripe, Tamara Soares de Oliveira
• Data de Publicação: 2019
• Outros Autores: Aguiar, Ana Patrícia Nogueira, Alexandrino, Renata Kellen Cavalcante, Maia, Fernanda Maria Machado, Mendonça, Priscila da Silva
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: HU Revista (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufjf.br/index.php/hurevista/article/view/25664
• topic: Fasting; Lenght of Stay; Nutritional Status; Postoperative Complications; Elective Surgical Procedures; Jejum; Tempo de internação; Estado nutricional; Complicações pós-operatórias; Procedimentos cirúrgicos eletivos

Introduction: The nutritional status and pre and postoperative fasting time impact the morbidity and mortality of patients undergo to elective surgeries. In Brazil, prolonged fasting time and high prevalence of malnutrition are common in tertiary hospitals. Objective: To evaluate the mean preoperative and postoperative fasting time and the impact of fasting, and nutritional status on gastrointestinal complications and on length of hospital stay in surgical patients. Material and methods: A prospective study, conducted at Walter Cantídio University Hospital, in Fortaleza. One hundred and seventy three surgery patients were evaluated between August 2016 and January 2017. The subjects were divided in two groups (medium and large size). Anthropometric measurements, blood count and information about pre and postoperative fasting time, hospital stay and gastrointestinal complications data were collected. Correlation and association test were performed by Software SPSS®. P<0.05 was considered significant. Results: The majority of the patients (71,1%) were included in size II (large) surgery. There was a negative correlation between length of stay in hospital and body mass index [r= -0,223; p= 0,003], brachial circumference [r= -0,335; p<0,001], triceps skinfold thickness [r= -0,320; p<0,001], arm muscle area [r= -0,253; p= 0,001], total lymphocyte count [r= -0,223; p= 0,008], hemoglobin [r= -0,243; p= 0,004] and lymphocyte/monocyte ratio [r= -0,308; p<0,001]. In addition, there was a positive correlation between length of stay in hospital and postoperative fasting time [r= 0,456; p<0,001]. Absence of gastrointestinal complications was associated with Nutrition Risk Screening-2002 <3 (p= 0,034) and shorter post-operative fasting time (p= 0,033). Conclusion: Malnourished patients, higher nutritional risk and higher postoperative fasting time were associated to longer hospital stay and a higher incidence of gastrointestinal complications.