Assessement of nutritional status and dietary habits among the elderly inpatients at two departments of internal medicine, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital

Introduction: Undernutrition is popular among inpatients. According to estimates of National institute of Nutrition, the prevalence of undernutrition accounts for 40% to 50% among inpatients. Undernutrition has a significant effect on complication, mortality, hospital stay as well as quality of life... Therefore, screening and evaluating the nutritional status is important in the treatment process. Objectives: 1. To assess nutritional status of elderly inpatients at two departments of Internal medicine, Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital. 2. To find out dietary habits and its relation to nutritional status. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 389 inpatients in two departments of Internal medicine. Body Mass Index (BMI) and Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) were applied to assess nutritional status, and questionnaire was used to understand dietary habits and its relation to nutritional status. Results: The prevalence of undernutrition among elderly inpatients by BMI and SGA were 38.8% and 35.0 % respectively. The was a relationship between the habit of using food after cooking for more than 2 hours, the selection of food suitable for diseases and the nutritional status assessing by BMI. There was a relationship between the eating at a fixed time, using food within 30 minutes after cooking, eating after 9:00 PM, drinking over 1.5 liters of water per day and the nutritional status assessing by SGA. Conclusion: The prevalence of undernutrition among elderly inpatients at two departments of Internal medicine was quite high. Therefore, it is important to consider assessing nutritional status as a routine procedure and design nutritional intervention plan with undernutrition inpatients. Key words: nutritional status, dietary habits