Malnutrition upon Hospital Admission in Geriatric Patients: Why Assess It?

ObjectiveTo assess the prevalence of malnutrition according to the new ESPEN definition in a population of geriatric hospital patients and to determine how malnutrition affects the length of hospital stay (LOS) and hospital mortality.DesignA retrospective analysis of data gathered during nutritional screening surveys carried out three consecutive years, from 2012 to 2014, in an Italian geriatric research hospital (INRCA, Ancona) was performed. On the day of the study, demographic data, data on clinical conditions and the nutritional status of newly admitted patients were collected. Patients were screened for malnutrition risk using the Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST). Subsequently, malnutrition was diagnosed, for subjects at high risk, following the criteria suggested by the European Association for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism [body mass index (BMI)