Assessment of nutritional status of gastroenterology patients in Croatia.

Malnutrition is a common feature of gastroenterological diseases. In this study, nutritional status of the patients admitted to Department of Gastroenterology at University Hospital Center Zagreb was assessed. Anthropometric, dietetic, biochemical methods and method of Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) was used. The study group included 284 patients admitted to the Hospital. Malnutrition, as defined by SGA, was found in 61.1% of the patients, of whom 75% were moderately and 25% severely malnourished. Those patients classified as moderately and extremely malnourished by SGA were found to have statistically lower values of BMI, albumin, total proteins, calcium, iron, triglycerides, cholesterol, vitamin A and lymphocytes as compared to those who were adequately nourished. The prevalence of malnutrition in hospitalized patients treated at the Department of Gastroenterology is high. The use of nutritional screening with multiple measures would be important in the early identification and treatment of these patients and would help decrease this high prevalence.