Background & aims: The aim of the study was to implement nutritional risk screening (NRS-2002) and to assess the association between nutritional risk and clinical outcome.
Methods: NRS-2002 was implemented in 26 hospital departments (surgery, internal medicine, oncology, intensive care, gastroenterology and geriatrics) in Austria, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany, Hungary, Lebanon, Libya, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and Switzerland. Being a prospective cohort study, randomly selected adult patients were included at admission and followed during their hospitalisation. Data were collected on the nutritional risk screening, complications, mortality, length of stay and discharge. The correlation between risk status and clinical outcome was assessed and adjusted for confounders (age, speciality, diagnoses, comorbidity, surgery, cancer and region) by multivariate regression analysis.
Results: Of the 5051 study patients, 32.6% were defined as 'at-risk' by NRS-2002. 'At-risk' patients had more complications, higher mortality and longer lengths of stay than 'not at-risk' patients and these variables were significantly related to components of NRS-2002, also when adjusted for confounders.
Conclusions: Components of NRS-2002 are independent predictors of poor clinical outcome.