Ting THY, Lo THM, Lo WWT, Ding Q, Yuk DKL, Hui E, Tang MWS. Inadequate energy and protein intake, underweight and malnutrition are associated with in‐hospital mortality among
COVID
‐19 rehabilitation patients during the omicron outbreak in Hong Kong.
Aging Med (Milton) 2022;
5:204-210. [PMID:
36247341 PMCID:
PMC9539165 DOI:
10.1002/agm2.12220]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2022] [Revised: 07/28/2022] [Accepted: 08/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective
Malnourished COVID‐19 patients were prone to higher mortality and longer length of stay (LOS). This study aims to investigate the malnutrition risk prevalence in the COVID‐19 patients and how other nutritional indicators are related to the clinical outcomes in a rehabilitation hospital.
Methods
A retrospective cross‐sectional study involved 174 COVID‐19 patients during the rehabilitation phase. Malnutrition risk, nutritional indicators, mortality, and LOS were compared among different risk groups. Albumin, nutrition intake, and body mass index (BMI) were investigated for their effects on the clinical outcomes.
Results
The prevalence of malnutrition risk was 94.9%; those older were higher in malnutrition risk. BMI, energy and protein intakes decreased as the malnutrition risk increased. Albumin, energy and protein intakes were lower in the death group. The high malnutrition risk group and severely underweight patients had 2.7 times and 2.2 times higher in‐hospital death, respectively. For subjects ≥75 years old, the odds ratio to death was 6.2 compared to those <75 years old.
Conclusion
We observed a high malnutrition risk of 94.9% in COVID‐19 patients. Patients with malnutrition risk had a lower BMI, lower nutritional intake, and a higher chance of in‐hospital death. These results reinforced the importance of nutrition management in COVID‐19 patients.
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