Clinical trial NCT05918900: Analyses of Malnutrition Screening in Internal Medicine
Official title: Descriptive and Comparative Analyses of Malnutrition Screening in Internal Medicine
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Malnutrition
Keywords: Malnutrition risk
Screening
Internal medicine
Nutritional Risk Screening 2002
Gastroenterology
Nephrology
Endocrinology
Rheumatology
Lead sponsor: University Medicine Greifswald
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2023-06-26
Enrollment: 323
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: OTHER
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Patients will be recruited at University Medicine Greifswald (Northeast Germany). Internal medicine patients with any gastrointestinal, endocrine, rheumatic, or nephrological disease admitted to the hospital will be identified in the respective wards and will be approached for study inclusion.

Brief summary: The goal of this observational study is to study the presence and consequences of malnutrition risk in hospitalized internal medicine patients.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. How many patients are at risk of malnutrition at admission?
2. Is there a link between an existing malnutrition risk and nutrition therapy that the patients receive?
3. Is there a link between an existing malnutrition risk and clinical outcome (e.g. length of hospital stay, mortality, need for rehospitalization)?

Participants will be screened for malnutrition risk at admission using a validated questionnaire (Nutritional Risk Screening 2002). All relevant data regarding hospital stay will be obtained from the clinical information system after discharge.

Detailed description: Malnutrition is associated with adverse clinical outcome in hospitalized patients. Therefore, systematic screening for malnutrition risk at admission is recommended by almost all medical expert societies to identify patients who will benefit from nutritional therapy.

Although clinical and economic benefit of systematic malnutrition screening have been shown in various settings and for different patient groups, such screening is still not mandatory in most countries. In part, establishment of malnutrition screening is hampered by discrepant findings on the prevalence of malnutrition risk and the lack of evidence on a local level.

Hence, in this observational study the investigators examine the results of systematic malnutrition screening in internal medicine patients admitted to a university hospital in Northeast Germany. In particular, the investigators aim to determine the prevalence of malnutrition risk at hospital admission, the association between malnutrition risk and nutrition therapy as well as clinical outcome in different disciplines of internal medicine.

For this purpose, all patients undergo screening for malnutrition risk at admission using a validated instrument (Nutritional Risk Screening 2002). All relevant data regarding the patients' hospital stay will be obtained from the clinical information system after discharge.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* hospital admission for gastrointestinal, endocrine, rheumatic, or nephrological condition
* provision of informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

* inability to provide consent
* unfeasibility to perform malnutrition screening within 48h after admission

Primary outcomes:
measure: Overall presence of malnutrition risk
timeFrame: Baseline
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Presence of malnutrition risk in gastroenterology
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Presence of malnutrition risk in endocrinology
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Presence of malnutrition risk in rheumatology
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Presence of malnutrition risk in nephrology
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Relation of malnutrition risk to nutritional consultation
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Relation of malnutrition risk to nutritional diagnosis
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Relation of malnutrition risk to intensive care treatment
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Relation of malnutrition risk to intermediate care treatment
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Relation of malnutrition risk to mortality
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Relation of malnutrition risk to length of hospital stay
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Relation of malnutrition risk and 30-day readmission
timeFrame: Baseline
measure: Relation of malnutrition risk and 90-day readmission
timeFrame: Baseline
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Greifswald
country: Germany
facility: University Medicine Greifswald
Study officials:
affiliation: University Medicine Greifswald
name: Ali A Aghdassi, Professor
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: