Meropi D Kontogianni1, Kalliopi Anna Poulia2, Fragkiskos Bersimis1, Isabella Sulz3, Karin Schindler4, Michael Hiesmayr5, Michail Chourdakis6. 1. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Sciences and Education, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece. 2. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Laiko General Hospital, Athens, Greece. 3. Institute for Medical Statistics, Center for Medical Statistics, Informatics and Intelligent System, Medical University of Vienna, 1090, Vienna, Austria. 4. Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Medical Clinic III, Vienna, Austria. 5. Department of Anaesthesiology, General Intensive Care and Pain Control, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria. 6. Laboratory of Hygiene, Social & Preventive Medicine and Medical Statistics, School of Medicine, Facutly of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece. Electronic address: mhourd@gapps.auth.gr.
Abstract
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Hospital food consumption can affect patients' outcome leading to prolonged hospital stay or even increased mortality. In the present study, the nutritionDay database was analyzed (period 2006-2013) to explore the reasons for reduced food intake and associated factors during hospitalization as reported by the patients per se. METHODS: Data from 113,930 adult patients (male 49.9%; mean age 64.0 ± 18.1 y, mean BMI 25.7 ± 6.0 kg/m2) (from 4519 units, 1358 hospitals, 54 countries) were included. Dietary intake and reasons for reduced food intake were reported and analyzed. RESULTS: Only 41.6% of patients reported to have consumed all their served meal, whereas 9.3% ate nothing although allowed to eat. Variables like presence of caner, having nausea/vomiting, feeling tired, not feeling hungry and not liking food's taste increased the likelihood of consuming "¼ of the meal" but not "nothing". Variables like having gastrointestinal disorder, being bedrest, receiving nutritional support and not liking food's smell increased the likelihood of both decreased (¼ compared to ½) and null (nothing compared to ¼) food consumption (all p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Food consumption during hospitalization is associated with variables related to both patients' condition (e.g. clinical, physical) and factors related to the quality of hospital food.
BACKGROUND & AIMS: Hospital food consumption can affect patients' outcome leading to prolonged hospital stay or even increased mortality. In the present study, the nutritionDay database was analyzed (period 2006-2013) to explore the reasons for reduced food intake and associated factors during hospitalization as reported by the patients per se. METHODS: Data from 113,930 adult patients (male 49.9%; mean age 64.0 ± 18.1 y, mean BMI 25.7 ± 6.0 kg/m2) (from 4519 units, 1358 hospitals, 54 countries) were included. Dietary intake and reasons for reduced food intake were reported and analyzed. RESULTS: Only 41.6% of patients reported to have consumed all their served meal, whereas 9.3% ate nothing although allowed to eat. Variables like presence of caner, having nausea/vomiting, feeling tired, not feeling hungry and not liking food's taste increased the likelihood of consuming "¼ of the meal" but not "nothing". Variables like having gastrointestinal disorder, being bedrest, receiving nutritional support and not liking food's smell increased the likelihood of both decreased (¼ compared to ½) and null (nothing compared to ¼) food consumption (all p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Food consumption during hospitalization is associated with variables related to both patients' condition (e.g. clinical, physical) and factors related to the quality of hospital food.