12 Dec One in Three Hospitalized Patients are Malnourished

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Refaat Hegazi, MD, PhD, MS, MPH
Medical Director at Abbott Nutrition and an author of the FeedM.E. study.  Affiliate Research Associate Professor
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology
Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University

Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Dr. Hegazi: When we think about malnutrition, we don’t believe it can impact us and our families. But malnutrition is a widespread condition that can affect anyone, especially when sick or injured, and exists in every country of the world – both in emerging and developed nations. In fact, an estimated one in three patients who enter a hospital are malnourished and up to one out of two older adults are at risk for malnutrition.

The consequences of malnutrition are serious and include increased complications, (pressure ulcers, infections, falls), longer hospital stays, frequent readmissions, increased cost of care and higher risk of mortality. However, the condition often goes undiagnosed despite being preventable and treatable if identified early.

This is why we authored “Evidence-Based Recommendations for Addressing Malnutrition in Health Care: An Updated Strategy From the feedM.E. Global Study Group”. It aims to create a call to action for clinicians worldwide and provides a simple clinical nutrition care pathway that can be implemented in any health care setting, in any part of the world.

Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?

Dr. Hegazi: Although numerous studies show nutrition care can improve outcomes and cut healthcare costs, malnutrition is often left untreated due to inadequate time, money and training in hospitals.

The nutrition care pathway offered in the feedM.E. paper provides a simple framework for improving screening methods:

• Recommends clinicians to ‘screen, intervene, and supervene’.

o   Screen always
o   Intervene promptly when needed
o   Supervene with in-hospital nutrition tracking and post-discharge nutrition planning

• Provides three simple questions healthcare professionals should ask:

1. Have you been sick, injured or have an underlying health issue?
2. Have you lost your appetite?
3. Have you lost weight without trying?

• If the patient responds yes to any two of these questions, the patient is at-risk of malnutrition and nutritional intervention should immediately begin

Medical Research: What are the main components of the feedM.E. strategy?

Dr. Hegazi: The feedM.E. Global Study Group comprises internationally-recognized nutrition experts with a shared goal of creating a global call-to-action for better nutritional screening to help recognize and treat malnutrition in healthcare settings.

The group was developed in partnership with Abbott Nutrition and works with healthcare systems and communities to help bring about global change on a local level.

The name feedM.E. stands for medical education and the group is designed to be a global awareness, education, and action initiative to: heighten awareness of the high prevalence of malnutrition and the importance of nutrition, educate hospital staff and patients about nutrition, and galvanize action to improve nutritional status. feedM.E. works with healthcare systems and communities to help improve the nutritional care of patients worldwide.

Additional information on feedM.E. can be found at www.NutritionMatters.com.

Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Dr. Hegazi: While evidence exists that improving nutrition outcomes help improve the outcomes of patients, further research is warranted to help identify the most effective nutritional interventions for select patients. It is also to be studied whether nutrition intervention like oral nutrition supplements of all at-risk patients could help reduce hospital readmission, an important health care issue.

Citation:

Evidence-based recommendations for addressing malnutrition in health care: an updated strategy from the feedM.E. Global Study Group.

Correia MI¹, Hegazi RA², Higashiguchi T³, Michel JP⁴, Reddy BR⁵, Tappenden KA⁶, Uyar M⁷, Muscaritoli M⁸.

J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2014 Aug;15(8):544-50. doi: 10.1016/j.jamda.2014.05.011. Epub 2014 Jul 2.

Last Updated on December 12, 2014 by Marie Benz MD FAAD