Protein-energy undernutrition and the risk of mortality within 1 y of hospital discharge in a select population of geriatric rehabilitation patients.

To determine whether undernourished elderly patients are at increased risk for mortality, independent of nonnutritional factors affecting outcomes, 109 patients were evaluated at admission to a geriatric rehabilitation unit (GRU) and then followed prospectively for 1 y after hospital discharge. During the interval of observation, 33 (30%) patients died, 11 before hospital discharge and 22 within the year subsequent to discharge. Of the 81 nutritional and nonnutritional variables analyzed, the best predictor of mortality, as determined by stepwise-discriminant-function analysis, within 1 y of hospital discharge was the percent of usual body weight lost in the year previous to admission, followed by the subscapular skinfold thickness and the discharge Katz Index of Activities of Daily Living (ADL) score. Percent of weight lost was also the strongest predictor of 1-y post-GRU-admission mortality. These results provide compelling evidence for the importance of nutritional status in predicting both in-hospital and postdischarge mortality in a population of frail, male GRU patients.