Malnutrition prevalence and precision in nutritional care differed in relation to hospital volume – a cross-sectional survey

BACKGROUND: To explore the point prevalence of the risk of malnutrition and the targeting of nutritional interventions in relation to undernutrition risk and hospital volume. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey performed in nine hospitals including 2 170 (82.8%) patients that agreed to participate. The hospitals were divided into large, middle, and small sized hospitals. Undernutrition risk and overweight (including obesity) were assessed. RESULTS: The point prevalence of moderate/high undernutrition risk was 34%, 26% and 22% in large, middle and small sized hospitals respectively. The corresponding figures for overweight were 38%, 43% and 42%. The targeting of nutritional interventions in relation to moderate/high undernutrition risk was, depending on hospital size, that 7–17% got Protein- and Energy Enriched food (PE-food), 43–54% got oral supplements, 8–22% got artificial nutrition, and 14–20% received eating assistance. Eating assistance was provided to a greater extent and artificial feeding to a lesser extent in small compared to in middle and large sized hospitals. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of malnutrition risk and the precision in provision of nutritional care differed significantly depending on hospital volume, i.e. case mix. It can be recommended that greater efforts should be taken to increase the use of PE-food and oral supplements for patients with eating problems in order to prevent or treat undernutrition. A great effort needs to be taken in order to also decrease the occurrence of overweight.