Preoperative nutritional status

Abstract

The subjective global assessment test (VGS) is an evaluation tool that uses the clinical method of nutritional risk assessment through the clinical history and physical examination to know the nutritional status of the individual. It is based on subjective data related to: weight change, change in dietary intake, presence of gastrointestinal symptoms and functional capacity. Materials and methods: This study determined the preoperative nutritional status in 50 patients of both sexes aged 20 to 70 years, who were admitted for elective surgery to the adult surgery service of the National Hospital of Chiquimula during the months of August of 2017 to April. of 2018. Results and discussion: The test shows that of the 50 patients studied 62% are well nourished, 32% at risk of malnutrition and 6% malnourished, in the male sex the risk of malnutrition was 55%, the range of age that presented the highest risk of malnutrition and malnutrition was 61 to 70 years with 16% and 4% respectively, it was determined that of the studied population, 21 patients presented a weight loss between 5 and 10% and 3 presented a loss greater than 10%, that is, a severe loss that indicates a state of malnutrition. The type of change in dietary intake was suboptimal solid diet with 44%, the most frequent gastrointestinal symptom referred was nausea with 40%, the alteration in functional capacity was 44% and the clinical sign of malnutrition more frequent was loss of fat with 32%. The subjective global assessment test shows that 16 patients were at risk of malnutrition and 3 were malnourished.