33% of patients short of nutrients

ONE in three Irish patients admitted to hospital earlier this year were found to be malnourished, a new study reveals.

The study is the first of its kind ever conducted in Ireland and was based on 1,600 adult admissions to 27 hospitals.

The analysis, co-ordinated by the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute (INDI), used an internationally recognised nutrition scoring scale.

It found that the alarmingly high incidence of malnutrition tended to be linked to the disease or condition that caused the patient to be hospitalised.

The study of adults aged between 18 and 65 was undertaken by dietitians over three days last January and looked at all adult admissions to hospitals and to 12 care homes.

While it has not yet been broken down to show the age profile of the patients to establish those patients most at risk, it mirrors similar exercises undertaken in other European countries.

Those over the age of 65 who are malnourished are 80% more likely to be admitted to hospital than the well-nourished.

The publication of the findings coincided with the launch in Dublin last night of the Irish Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ISPEN), a new multidisciplinary medical society committed to improving the awareness, detection and management of patients’ nutritional risk in both hospitals and the wider community.

ISPEN chairman and head of surgery at Trinity College Dublin, Prof John Reynolds, said that while under-nutrition would be a key area of focus, the society’s activities and interests would also encompass best care of those whose nutritional status put their health at risk.

“This would bring about substantial cost savings in public healthcare expenditure arising from faster recovery time, better patient outcomes and reduced need for expensive, acute and long-term care,” he said.