Background: NutritionDay is an annual worldwide cross-sectional multicentre audit. This report aimed to describe the results of nutritionDay 2010 in Jinling hospital, providing a map of the prevalence of malnutrition and actual nutrition therapy practice in different units. The risk factors to malnutrition and length of hospital stay were also investigated.
Methods: The data was collected from 233 inpatients from Jinling hospital on Nov 4th, 2010, using standardized questionnaires. Malnutrition was objectively defined as BMI <20 or unintentional weight loss >5% in the past three months. Risk factors for malnutrition and the impact of multiple factors on length of hospital stay were analyzed.
Results: 233 inpatients participated in this audit (143 M: 90 F; mean±SD age 50.6±18.5 years). Of the patients, 42.5% were malnourished. Multivariable analysis revealed three risk factors for malnutrition: gender, food intake and length of hospital stay before audit. Longer length of hospital stay prevailed in patients aged >=65 years (p<0.001), and there was a positive and significant, but weak, correlation between length of hospital stay and age.
Conclusions: The prevalence of malnutrition was high. Higher age may be the main contributor to longer length of hospital stay. This was the first study to obtain data from hospitalized patients' nutritional status in China during the nutritionDay audit and the valuable results could supply evidence for clinical nutrition support.