ASSESSMENT OF THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE LEVELS OF PLATE WASTE, FOOD INTAKE AND PATIENT SATISFACTION WITH NUTRITIONAL RISK AND MALNUTRITION PREVALENCE IN HOSPITAL

Background and Aim: Assessment of the association between the levels of plate waste, food intake and patient satisfaction with nutritional risk and malnutrition prevalence in hospital Methods: The sample population of 120 patients, aged 18-65 year. For all the patients, diet history, anthropometric measurements, body mass index and patient satisfaction with the hospital food service was evaluated. Weight plate waste for all daily meals was done and actual intakes computed individually for each day. Results: From one hundred twenty non-critically ill patients with a mean 8.9 ± 3.5 day length of hospital stay, 40.8% (49) were men and 59.2% (71) were female. Mean energy and protein requirements were 2,030.3 ± 409.03 kcal/day and 76.13 ± 15.33 g/day respectively. Mean intakes were 1,326 ± 681.44 kcal/day and 66.81 ± 31.66 g/day respectively. The mean percent of plate waste for lunch and dinner were 37.7 ± 29.88 and 30.4 ± 23.61 respectively. In the total population, 25% of patients were satisfid and 75% patients were unsatisfid with hospital foods.Based on BMI (< 20), unintentional weight loss (> 10%), malnutrition prevalence was 12.5% and 14.2% respectively during hospitalization. The prevalence of nutritionally at-risk population was 30% at admission time and reached 33.3% at discharge.Conclusion: Plate waste and hospital malnutrition were highly prevalent in accompanying with increasing nutritionally risk progression.

Keywords:

Food intake , Plate waste , Hospitalized patients , Iran