Comparison of Nutrition Screening and Assessment Parameters in Predicting Length of Hospital Stay

Abstract

Background and objective: To compare the accuracy of five nutritional screening tools and to assess the most effective parameters in predicting Length of Hospital Stay (LOS). Method: Prospective cohort study in Dr. Sardjito General Hospital, the central hospital in Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia. Subjects are 326 adult patients within 48 hours of hospital admission. We using The Simple Nutrition Screening Tool (SNST), Nutritional Risk Screening-2002 (NRS2002), Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST), Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool (MUST) and Short Nutritional Assessment Questioner (SNAQ), and Nutritional Assessment (anthropometric and biochemical measurements). Results: The SNST, NRS-2002, MST, MUST, and SNAQ identified nutritional risk in 51%; 55%; 34%; 60% and 38% of the patients, respectively. The SNST obtained the highest level of discrimination (0.87) compared to NRS-2002 (0.73), MST (0.77), MUST (0.76), and SNAQ (0.78). Patients at risk of malnutrition compared to those who are not, had a lower average value of Body Mass Index (BMI), Mid Upper Arm Circumference (MUAC), albumin, Haemoglobin (Hb) and significantly higher Length of Stay (LOS) based on five Nutritional Screening Tools, except for the SNAQ. Malnutrition was associated with longer LOS with the highest value of Relative Risk (RR) were the SNST for Nutritional Screening Tools (1.76) and albumin for nutritional assessment parameters (1.37). Conclusion: All the nutritional screening and assessment parameters can predict Length of Hospital Stay in patients but, the most appropriate one is the SNST.