Nutritional status and body composition of hospitalized patients: Nutritional transition consequence

Background: Changes in diet and activity patterns are related to the obesity epidemic. Objectives: To investigate the consequences of the nutricional transition on the nutricional status and body composition of hospitalized patients. Casuistic and Methods: 2239 hospitalized patients were evaluated and 819 (435 men and 384 women) were eligible to participate in the study. All patients included in this study had clinical data, anthropometric and dietary records. Central obesity was assessed by the waist-to-hip circumference ratio and the cut-off points were 0,9 for men and 0,85 for women. The data were analysed by the software STATISTICS 6.0, using test t of student for comparison between two groups of variables and p<0.05 as significant. Results: The studied population presented mean age of 53,7±16,0 years and length of staying of 8 days, which was longer between older patients (p<0.01). A great part of the patients (47.8%) were overweight/obesidade, 48.6% had high values of waist circumference and 76.4% had central obesity. Cardiovascular diseases were the main cause of hospitalization (45.4%) and this prevalence was higher among older patients (60.4%). Conclusion: Our data showed a high prevalence of overweight and central obesity among hospitalized patients independent of the gender, age, and cause of hospitalization. Nutricional intervention and lifestyle modification must be implemented constantly by the health care system in order to prevent the development of metabolic diseases related to obesity and future hospital admissions.