Nutritional status as a predictor of hospitalization in inflammatory bowel disease: A review

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) presents an inflammatory picture that in the long run can lead to complications and consequently more hospitalizations compared to other diseases. AIM: To evaluate the influence of nutritional status on the occurrence of IBD-related hospitalization. METHODS: This integrative review was conducted in the online databases PubMed and MEDLINE, using the terms “obesity” and “malnutrition” accompanied by “hospitalization”, each combined with “Crohn’s disease” or “ulcerative colitis”. Only studies conducted with humans, adults, and published in English or Spanish were selected, and those that were not directly associated with nutritional status and hospitalization were excluded from this review. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes guide was used as the basis for selection of studies. RESULTS: Of the 80 studies identified, only five met the proposal of this review. None evaluated the association of good nutritional status with the risk of hospitalization. Malnutrition had a strong correlation with the risk of hospitalization related to IBD, and there was disagreement among three studies regarding the association of obesity and hospitalization rates. CONCLUSION: Few studies have evaluated nutritional status as a predictor of IBD-related hospitalization. The presence of malnutrition appears to be associated with hospitalization in these patients, but further studies are needed to elucidate the issue.