Human Nutrition

Permanent URI for this community

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/100754

Browse

Browsing Human Nutrition by Subject "Aga Khan University -- Nairobi (Kenya)"

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The prevalence of malnutrition in hospitalized adult patients at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-03) Wanja, Munyi Faith; Blaauw, Renee; Visser, Janicke; Munyu, Peter Waweru; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dept. of Global Health. Human Nutrition.
    ENGLISH SUMMARY : Rationale: The prevalence of adult malnutrition upon hospital admission varies between 10-60%. Knowing the extent of the problem and identifying at-risk patients should be a priority task as the consequences of malnutrition has been shown to negatively impact the working of every organ in the human body system and delayed recuperation from illness. There are a limited number of studies conducted on malnutrition in hospitalized patients in Africa and in Kenya: hence, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of malnutrition risk in hospitalized adult patients at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya. Methods: This was part of a multi-country, multicentre, descriptive cross-sectional study with an analytical component. Adult patients (n=413) were screened (NRS-2002) upon admission and at discharge (if length of hospital stay was more than seven days), and relevant outcomes on the prevalence of malnutrition were charted. Nutritionally at-risk patients were indicated if the NRS-2002 score was ≥3. Summary statistics, appropriate analysis of variance (ANOVA) and non-parametric methods were used. The statistical significance was set at 95%. Results: 413 hospitalized adult patients (42.4 ± 13.84 years old; 51% female) were screened on admission. 64% of these patients were admitted in the medical ward, followed by 34% in the surgical ward. The mean BMI was 27.07 ± 5.43 kg/m2 upon admission. Out of the study population, 45.5% (n=188) of these patients were at risk of malnutrition. The mean length of the hospitalization of these patients were 4.4 days (±5.99 SD). Upon discharge, n=48 were assessed. It was found that nutritionally at-risk patients upon discharge were 61%. Despite the high prevalence of malnutrition, only 4% of the total population (n=18) were referred for nutritional therapy upon admission. Only 6.4% (n=12) of nutritionally at-risk patients were referred for nutritionl support. Conclusions:With 45% of all patients being nutritionally at risk upon admission to the hospital, there is a need, now more than ever, to reinforce nutritional screening and timely referral. With this data, more studies on the prevalence of adult hospital malnutrition need to be conducted in Kenya and other developing countries, applying the same screening tools. This will allow for comparisons of the prevalence of hospital malnutrition, outcomes and validity. Less strict exclusion criteria needs to be applied to obtain a more accurate reflection of the true prevalence of at-risk and malnourished patients.