P635 - THE IMPORTANCE OF NRS-2002 AND HANDGRIP STRENGTH TO ASSESS NUTRITIONAL RISK INPATIENTS OF A CENTRAL HOSPITAL

P635

THE IMPORTANCE OF NRS-2002 AND HANDGRIP STRENGTH TO ASSESS NUTRITIONAL RISK IN

PATIENTS OF A CENTRAL HOSPITAL

S. Pinhão ^1,2,*, C. Pereira Pinto¹, A. da Silva Pereira¹, A. Ribeiro³, C. matos¹, S. cascarejo¹, C. Teixeira⁴, J. Almeida⁵

¹FCNAUP, ²Nutrition, ULS S.João, ³ESB-UCP, ⁴Nutrition, FCNAUP, ⁵Internal Medicine, ULS S.João, Porto, Portugal

Rationale: An early nutritional assessment is important to identify undernourished or at risk
inpatients in order to improve clinical outcomes. The nutritional risk of
adult inpatients in a central hospital, using
Handgrip Strength (HGS), and NRS2002, and its association was studied.

Methods: Were included 99 male inpatients aged ≥50,
(assessment first 72 hours). Nutritional status was evaluated using the
NRS2002 tool and HGS (calibrated Gripwise® dynamometer). Data were analyzed with a 95% confidence level. 

Results: Nutritional risk assessment using the NRS-2002 shows 91.9% of 
inpatients at nutritional risk, and it was noted that all of patients aged ≥70 were at risk.
78 inpatients could assess the HGS, and in those, 89.7%  had potential malnutrition as they had HGS below 27kgf. A  
correlation was observed between HGS and NRS-2002 scores (𝜌=-0.259, p=0.010), and
between HGS and nutritional deficit (𝜌=-0.216, p=0.032). No significant correlation was
found between HGS and age (p=0.396) or disease severity (p=0.739), nor between
nutritional deficit and disease severity (p=0.750). The majority of patients (95.2%) with
unmeasured HGS were at nutritional risk.

Conclusion: This study shows a significant proportion of hospitalized patients,
with nutritional risk, using the NRS2002 and HGS and suggests that reduced HGS may reflect potential nutritional deficiency, being an effective method for identify patients at
nutritional risk. Early identification of malnutrition is crucial to early nutritional intervention
to improve clinical outcomes and preventing complications associated with
malnutrition in patients.

Disclosure of Interest: None declared