Malnutrition Clinical Characteristics Validation Study (MCC)

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Status: Completed

Conditions: Malnutrition

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02182427

2014-Pilot

Details and patient eligibility

About

Malnutrition (under-nutrition) occurs in approximately 30% of hospitalized adults worldwide and results in poor outcomes. However there is no universal method for diagnosing malnutrition. A group of experts created a set of 6 characteristics to identify malnutrition. The goal of this project is to determine whether these characteristics are the best indicators to identify malnutrition or if there are other factors that may better identify malnutrition. Because there is no gold standard definition for malnutrition, the investigators will compare the characteristics against outcomes such as length of stay, hospital readmission and death. Outcomes are also influenced by disease state, therefore, information on what brought the patient to the hospital and what happened to them in the hospital will be collected that allows the investigators to separate the effect of malnutrition from disease. The hypothesis for this study is that the malnutrition clinical characteristics and diagnosis criteria, as presented by the experts, are valid and reliable principles for the diagnosis of adult under-nutrition.

Enrollment: 54 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Patient on inpatient dietitian consult list
• Able to speak English to answer questions
• Ability to provide informed consent (or provided by family member)
• Expected remaining admission time > 24 hours (determined by no mention of pending discharge in physicians notes)
• Age ≥ 18 years

Exclusion criteria

• Seen previously by Registered Dietitian during current admission
• Patient on hospice or palliative care, in a psychiatric, maternity, pediatric or day surgery area, or in dedicated trauma or burn unit.
• Life expectancy <7 days per physician note or Registered Dietitian (RD) judgment
• Participated in the study during a previous admission