Impact of nutrition status on morbidity and mortality in a select population of geriatric rehabilitation patients.

To determine whether the level of protein-calorie undernutrition at presentation correlated with the subsequent risk of developing in-hospital complications independently of nonnutrition factors influencing outcomes, a prospective study was conducted of 110 consecutive admissions to a Geriatric Rehabilitation Unit (GRU) of a Veteran's Administration hospital. In total, 54 variables were evaluated as possible predictors of outcomes. The risk of developing at least one complication while on the GRU was studied by using multivariate techniques (discriminant function analysis) and was found to correlate with, in order of significance, functional status as admission, serum albumin concentration at admission, amount of weight lost in the year before admission, and the presence or absence of a renal or pulmonary disease. Nutrition variables also independently correlated with the risk of developing an infectious complication or a major life-threatening complication and dying within the hospital. These data indicate the importance of nutrition status in geriatric rehabilitation patients.