Applicability Evaluation of Job Standards for Diabetes Nutritional Management by Clinical Dietitian

This study was conducted to evaluate applicability of job standards for diabetes nutrition management by hospital clinical dietitians. In order to promote the clinical nutrition services, it is necessary to present job standards of clinical dietitian and to actively apply these standardized tasks to the medical institution sites. The job standard of clinical dietitians for diabetic nutrition management was distributed to hospitals over 300 beds. Questionnaire was collected from 96 clinical dietitians of 40 tertiary hospitals, 47 general hospitals, and 9 hospitals. Based on each 5-point scale, the importance of overall duty was 4.4 ± 0.5, performance was 3.6 ± 0.8, and difficulty was 3.1 ± 0.7. ‘Nutrition intervention’ was 4.5 ± 0.5 for task importance, ‘nutrition assessment’ was 4.0 ± 0.7 for performance, and ‘nutrition diagnosis’ was 3.4 ± 0.9 for difficulty. These 3 items were high in each category. Based on the grid diagram, the tasks of both high importance and high performance were ‘checking basic information,’‘checking medical history and therapy plan,’‘decision of nutritional needs,’‘supply of foods and nutrients,’ and ‘education of nutrition and self-management.’ The tasks with high importance but low performance were ‘derivation of nutrition diagnosis,’‘planning of nutrition intervention,’‘monitoring of nutrition intervention process.’ The tasks of both high importance and high difficulty were ‘derivation of nutrition diagnosis,’‘planning of nutrition intervention,’‘supply of foods and nutrients,’‘education of nutrition and self-management,’ and ‘monitoring of nutrition intervention process.’ The tasks of both high performance and high difficulty were ‘documentation of nutrition assessment,’‘supply of foods and nutrients,’ and ‘education of nutrition and self-management.’

Eating habits, physical activity, nutrition knowledge, and self-efficacy by obesity status in upper-grade elementary school students

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Childhood obesity has increased in recent decades in Korea. This study was designed to examine differences in the eating habits, physical activity (PA), nutrition knowledge, and self-efficacy of children by obesity status. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Subjects were 5th-grade children from 70 elementary schools in 17 cities nationwide. Two-stage stratified cluster sampling was employed. Survey questionnaire included items related to general characteristics, eating habits, PA, nutrition knowledge and self-efficacy. Excluding incomplete responses, 3,531 data were analyzed using SPSS. Subjects were categorized into overweight·obesity (OW) and normal weight (NW) groups based on body mass index percentiles for age by sex. RESULTS: A total of 21.5% of subjects was overweight or obese. There were significant differences in gender, perceived stress, perception of body shape, body satisfaction, and interest in weight control between the OW and NW groups (P < 0.001). With respect to eating habits, the OW group ate breakfast (P < 0.05) and snacks (P < 0.01) less frequently, ate bigger meals (P < 0.001), and demonstrated less desirable behaviors during meals (P <0.05 in boys) compared to the NW group. The OW group participated in less PA than the NW group, especially boys. OW boys spent less time walking during weekdays (P < 0.05) or the weekend (P < 0.001), spent more time being sedentary during weekdays or the weekend (P < 0.001), and exercised a fewer number of days (P < 0.01). For girls, the OW group spent more time being sedentary during the weekend (P < 0.01) and exercised a fewer number of days by walking or bicycle riding (P < 0.05) than the NW group. Nutrition knowledge was not significantly different between the OW and NW groups. Self-efficacy (P < 0.01 in boys), especially PA self-efficacy (P < 0.01), was significantly lower in the OW than NW group. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed differences in eating habits, PA, and self-efficacy between OW and NW children. Obesity management programs for children need to focus on increasing self-efficacy, modifying eating habits, and increasing PA.

Status and Need Assessment on Nutrition & Dietary Life Education among Nutrition Teachers in Elementary, Middle and High Schools / 대한지역사회영양학회지

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to investigate the status and need for nutrition and dietary life education among nutrition teachers at schools. These characteristics were analyzed if they were different between elementary schools and middle-high schools. METHODS: Subjects were 151 nutrition teachers from 70 elementary schools, 41 middle schools and 40 high schools in 17 cities nationwide selected by two-stage stratified cluster sampling process. Survey questionnaires included the items on general characteristics, status and need assessment for nutrition and dietary life education. Chi-square test or t-test was used for data analysis by school groups. RESULTS: Nutrition education was implemented at 65.7% of elementary schools and 51.9% of middle-high schools. Nutrition education was mainly performed in 'discretionary activities·extracurricular activities' at elementary school and through 'newsletters, school homepage, foodservice bulletin board' at middle-high school (p<0.001). The most needed topic for nutrition education in nutrition teachers was 'healthy dietary habits and table manners' and this was not significantly different by school groups. Responses on adequate frequency (p<0.01), methods used for nutrition education (p<001), materials for nutrition education (p<0.001), information sources for nutrition education (p<0.001) were significantly different by school groups. Major tasks for activating nutrition education included 'securing the time for implementing nutrition education by reducing work loads' and 'developing standardized nutrition education materials' in schools. CONCLUSIONS: Nutrition education at schools might be activated by improving working conditions of nutrition teachers and developing the practical programs that reflect the needs of nutrition teachers.

Development of Job Standards for Clinical Nutrition Therapy for Dyslipidemia Patients

Dyslipidemia has significantly contributed to the increase of death and morbidity rates related to cardiovascular diseases. Clinical nutrition service provided by dietitians has been reported to have a positive effect on relief of medical symptoms or reducing the further medical costs. However, there is a lack of researches to identify key competencies and job standard for clinical dietitians to care patients with dyslipidemia. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the job components of clinical dietitian and develop the standard for professional practice to provide effective nutrition management for dyslipidemia patients. The current status of clinical nutrition therapy for dyslipidemia patients in hospitals with 300 or more beds was studied. After duty tasks and task elements of nutrition care process for dyslipidemia clinical dietitians were developed by developing a curriculum (DACUM) analysis method. The developed job standards were pretested in order to evaluate job performance, difficulty, and job standards. As a result, the job standard included four jobs, 18 tasks, and 53 task elements, and specific job description includes 73 basic services and 26 recommended services. When clinical dietitians managing dyslipidemia patients performed their practice according to this job standard for 30 patients the job performance rate was 68.3%. Therefore, the job standards of clinical dietitians for clinical nutrition service for dyslipidemia patients proposed in this study can be effectively used by hospitals.

Eating habits and eating behaviors by family dinner frequency in the lower-grade elementary school students

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Recently, there has been an increased interest in the importance of family meals on children's health and nutrition. This study aims to examine if the eating habits and eating behaviors of children are different according to the frequency of family dinners. SUBJECTS/METHODS: The subjects were third-grade students from 70 elementary schools in 17 cities nationwide. A two-stage stratified cluster sampling was employed. The survey questionnaire was composed of items that examined the general characteristics, family meals, eating habits, eating behaviors, and environmental influence on children's eating. The subjects responded to a self-reported questionnaire. Excluding the incomplete responses, the data (n = 3,435) were analyzed using chi2-test or t-test. RESULTS: The group that had more frequent family dinners (> or = 5 days/week, 63.4%), compared to those that had less (< or = 4 days/week, 36.6%), showed better eating habits, such as eating meals regularly, performing desirable behaviors during meals, having breakfast frequently, having breakfast with family members (P < 0.001), and not eating only what he or she likes (P < 0.05). Those who had more frequent family dinners also consumed healthy foods with more frequency, including protein foods, dairy products, grains, vegetables, seaweeds (P < 0.001), and fruits (P < 0.01). However, unhealthy eating behaviors (e.g., eating fatty foods, salty foods, sweets, etc.) were not significantly different by the frequency of family dinners. CONCLUSIONS: Having dinner frequently with family members was associated with more desirable eating habits and with healthy eating behaviors in young children. Thus nutrition education might be planned to promote family dinners, by emphasizing the benefits of having family meals on children's health and nutrition and making more opportunities for family meals.

Nutritional Management by Dietitian at Elderly Nursing Homes in Gyeonggi-do

The purpose of the study was to examine the current status of nutritional management at elderly nursing homes. A survey was performed of 83 nursing homes from January 5, 2011 to January 21, 2011 via mail. A total of 34 nursing homes responded to the survey and 149 elderly subjects were analyzed according to the presence of a dietitian. Among the 34 nursing homes, 70.6% had a dietitian on duty. All of the facilities with a dietitian had the dietitian making the meal plan, whereas 70% of the facilities without dietitian served meals planned by a non-professional person. Overall, however, a low proportion of nursing homes implemented dietetic treatments for residents with diseases. For the nutritional assessment of these residents, a mini nutritional assessment (MNA) was performed. MNA scores were significantly associated with body mass index (BMI), mid-arm circumference (MAC), calf circumference (CC), ingestion problems, and weight loss during the last 3 months (P<0.001). Among the elderly studied, 5.4% were malnourished, and 36.9% were at risk for malnutrition by MNA score. The results of this survey show that the current management of nutrition at nursing homes is insufficient because the elderly who needed dietetic treatment did not receive proper care. Dietetic management is the most important service in all nursing homes. Therefore, to improve the nutritional status of elderly residents in nursing homes, systematic nutrition management by nutrition experts should be implemented.

Analysis of Reasons for Continuing Education in Dietitians

This study analyzed the reasons for continuing education among dietitians. An internet-based survey of 622 dieticians was conducted from August 31, 2012 to September 12, 2012. Based on data from the Participation Reasons Scale (PRS) questionnaire, factor analysis was conducted by principle component analysis for the extraction of major factors. Subsequent reliability analysis was performed by assessing Cronbach's alpha. The ANOVA-test was performed to compare the participation reason scores for each factors according to general characteristics. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS ver.17.0, and P<0.05 was considered significant. Factor analysis for the participation reasons revealed four types of factors. These factors were "maintenance and development of professional competencies", "interaction and responsibility of professionals", "job stability and personal profits" and "services for customers" respectively. Among the participation reasons, "maintenance and development of professional competencies" was the first reason with a 29.34% variance. In addition, the participation reasons for continuing education differed according to age (P<0.05), the highest level of education (P<0.05), workplace (P<0.01), and work experience in dietetic area (P<0.001). In conclusion, continuing education programs for dietitians should focus on effectively developing and promoting professionalism.

Estimation of vitamin K intake in Koreans and determination of the primary vitamin K-containing food sources based on the fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2010-2011)

There is little information on dietary vitamin K intake and nutritional status of daily requirements of vitamin K in Korea. The objective of this study was to investigate the vitamin K intake and major food sources of Vitamin K in Koreans. The survey data from the 2010-2011 Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 7,792 subjects (aged 19-64 years) were examined. Total vitamin K intake was calculated from 24-hour dietary recall using a vitamin K food database, Computer Aided Nutritional analysis Program and the United States Department of Agriculture database. The geometric mean of vitamin K was estimated as 322.40 +/- 6.33 ug/day for men and 271.20 +/- 4.92 ug/day for women. Daily vitamin K intake increased significantly with age (p for trend < 0.001). The main food source of vitamin K was vegetables (72.84%), including cabbage kimchi (19.26%), spinach (17.38%), sesame leaves (7.11%), radish leaves (6.65%), spring onions (6.28%), and laver (4.82%), followed by seaweed, seasonings, and fat and oils. We observed that the vitamin K intake of Koreans was relatively higher than that reported by other studies in Western countries and differed depending on age.

Relationship between Bone Morphological Microstructure and Inflammatory Markers in Growing Mice Fed a High Fat Diet

Obesity not only reduces bone mineral density but also increases inflammatory markers. Therefore, we examined the change in inflammatory markers and morphological microstructure of the bones using a mouse model fed a high-fat diet. C57BL/6J 4-week-old male mice were divided into a control group (n = 6) and a experimental group (n = 6); the control group was provided with 10% Kcal fat diet, and the high-fat diet group was provided with 45% Kcal fat diet for 12 weeks using the free provision method. Blood was analyzed for inflammatory markers, and micro-computed tomography was used to measure the morphological microstructure of the femoral bone. The weight increases in the control group and high-fat diet group were 5.85 +/- 1.84 g and 16.06 +/- 5.64 g, respectively (p < 0.01), glucose was 115.00 +/- 16.88 mg/dL and 188.33 +/- 13.29 mg/dL (p < 0.01), and triglycerides were 65.00 +/- 6.19 mg/dL and 103.33 +/- 8.02 mg/dL (p < 0.05) respectively. Leptin and interleukin (IL)-6 were significantly higher in the high-fat diet group than that in the control group (p < 0.01). As a result of a biochemical index analysis of bone metabolism, osteocalcin tended to be lower in the high-fat diet group, whereas CTx was significantly higher in the high-fat diet group compared to that in the control group (p < 0.01). The thickness of the bony trabecula was significantly narrower in the high-fat diet group than that in the control group (p < 0.05), and the gap in the bony trabecula was significantly wider in the high-fat diet group than that in the control group (p < 0.05). IL-6 and the gap in the bone trabecula, which was a morphological microstructure of the bones, showed a positive correlation (p < 0.05). Taken together, inducing obesity through a high-fat diet in mice during the growth phase caused a change in bone microstructure and was correlated with the inflammation index. Accordingly, restriction of excessive fat intake may be needed to suppress the inflammatory reactions and promote normal bone formation.

Korean Food Exchange Lists for Diabetes: Revised 2010

A food exchange system for diabetes is a useful tool for meal planning and nutritional education. The first edition of the Korean food exchange lists was developed in 1988 and the second edition was revised in 1995. With recent changes in the food marketplace and eating patterns of Koreans, the third edition of food exchange lists was revised in 2010 by the Korean Diabetes Association, the Korean Nutrition Society, the Korean Society of Community Nutrition, the Korean Dietetic Association and the Korean Association of Diabetes Dietetic Educators through a joint research effort. The third edition is based on nutritional recommendations for people with diabetes and focuses on adding foods to implement personalized nutrition therapy considering individual preferences in diverse dietary environment. Foods were selected based on scientific evidence including the 2007 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data analysis and survey responses from 53 diabetes dietetic educators. While a few foods were deleted, a number of foods were added, with 313 food items in food group lists and 339 food items in the appendix. Consistent with previous editions, the third edition of the food exchange lists included six food categories (grains, meat, vegetables, fats and oils, milk, and fruits). The milk group was subdivided into whole milk group and low fat milk. The standard nutrient content in one exchange from each food group was almost the same as the previous edition. Korea Food & Drug Administration's FANTASY (Food And Nutrient daTA SYstem) database was used to obtain nutrient values for each individual food and to determine the serving size most appropriate for matching reference nutrients values by each food group. The revised food exchange lists were subjected to a public hearing by experts. The third edition of the food exchange lists will be a helpful tool for educating people with diabetes to select the kinds and amounts of foods for glycemic control, which will eventually lead to preventing complications while maintaining the pleasure of eating.

Korean Food Exchange Lists for Diabetes: Revised 2010 / 임상당뇨병

A food exchange system for diabetes is a useful tool for meal planning and nutritional education. The first edition of the Korean food exchange lists was developed in 1988 and the second edition was revised in 1995. With recent changes in the food marketplace and eating patterns of Koreans, the third edition of food exchange lists was revised in 2010 by the Korean Diabetes Association, the Korean Nutrition Society, the Korean Society of Community Nutrition, the Korean Dietetic Association and the Korean Association of Diabetes Dietetic Educators through a joint research effort. The third edition is based on nutritional recommendations for people with diabetes and focuses in adding foods to implement personalized nutrition therapy considering individual preferences in diverse dietary environment. Foods were selected based on scientific evidence including the 2007 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data analysis and survey responses from 53 diabetes dietetic educators. While a few foods were deleted, a number of foods were added, with 313 food items in food group lists and 339 food items in the appendix. Consistent with previous editions, the third edition of the food exchange lists included six food categories (grains, meat, vegetables, fats and oils, milk, and fruits). The milk group was subdivided into whole milk group and low fat milk. The standard nutrient content in one exchange from each food group was almost the same as the previous edition. Korea Food & Drug Administration's FANTASY(Food And Nutrient daTA SYstem) database was used to obtain nutrient values for each individual food and to determine the serving size most appropriate for matching reference nutrients values by each food group. The revised food exchange lists were subjected to a public hearing by experts. The third edition of the food exchange lists will be a helpful tool for educating people with diabetes to select the kinds and amounts of foods for glycemic control, which will eventually lead to preventing complications while maintaining the pleasure of eating.

Effects of Nutrition Service Improvement Activities for Reducing Plate Waste of the Diabetic Mellitus Diet in a General Hospital / 대한지역사회영양학회지

Hospital malnutrition could be caused by not completing the food served in the hospital. This has been a big problem since it delays the recovery of the patient and extends the length of hospital stay. The purpose of the study was to reduce the plate waste for the DM diet by performing several nutrition service improvement activities. The study was performed in a general hospital with 900 beds. A questionnaire survey was taken by 39 DM patients to obtain their aspect of the hospital foodservice systems and the quality of the meals at the beginning of the study. The amounts of foods served in the hospital kitchen and returned were measured by weights. After the improvement activities, the measurement of the plate waste was performed again for comparison. The average percentage of plate waste for the DM diet was 23.2%. The survey showed no difference by sex, age or duration of admission in plate waste. However, this food wastage percentage showed differences between the patients having a chance to get information about the diet therapy (12.21%) and not having one(26.06%) (p < 0.05). Using a five-point Likert-type scale, the quality of food by its taste was 2.49 (1: very poor, 5: excellent), the temperature score was 3.56 (1: very poor, 5: excellent), and the amount of food served score was 2.95 (1: very poor, 5: excellent), and the preference score was 3.13 (1: very dislike, 5: very like). Nutritional care improving activities were performed by adjusting seasonings, developing new menus, and standardizing cooking methods in order to increase the satisfaction of meal quality. The dietitian's inpatients care protocol was adjusted to expand the nutritional counseling chance for the DM patients. After the improvement activities, the average plate waste was reduced to 14.6%, and the satisfaction of food taste and preference increased to 3.21 (p < 0.001), and 3.36 (p < 0.05) correspondingly. The result shows that, for therapeutic diet patients, food intake could be increased by improving the food service satisfaction by controlling the meal quality and clinical nutritional service activities.

The Improvement of Hospital Food Service in Quality and Customer Satisfaction by Using 6-sigma Strategy

This study was performed to improve the hospital food service in quality and customer satisfaction by using 6-sigma strategy which was processed by DMAIC methods. The research procedure was as follows; analyzing the main causes of customer dissatisfaction of food service by using numerical method, and then finding out the standardized problem solving methods, and finally reforming food service process. The effectiveness of 6-sigma activity was measured by 'food service quality index', 'customer satisfaction index' and 'total food service satisfaction index'. Food service quality index was calculated by adding grade of soup temperature, food service, delivery time, and setting accuracy. Statistical data analyses were completed by using the Minitab Ver. 14. By performing 6 sigma activity, food service quality index was increased from 67 to 79 points (p<0.05) and customer satisfaction index also rise from 73 to 79points (p<0.05). Satisfaction of meals' taste, diverse menu, food setting accuracy, remove of food service, overall food service were significantly improved(p<0.05). The results of capability analysis in food service quality index, customer satisfaction index, and total food service satisfaction index were improved 2.11sigma to 2.49sigma , 1.88sigma to 2.43sigma, and 2.04sigma to 2.47sigma respectively (p<0.05). Therefore this study showed that subjective food service improving process could be measured by objective numerical value which might be used for financial value in hospital management.

Evaluation of the Dietary Diversity and Nutrient Intakes in Obese Adults / 대한지역사회영양학회지

The purpose of this study was to assess the diet diversity, food habit and nutrient intake of obese adults who were visiting the health promotion center. This study was accomplished with the 138 obese adults (men = 103, women = 35) aged over 20 years old whose BMI were above 25 kg/m2. Nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR), the number of foods (Dietary Variety Score, DVS), and food group consumed (Dietary Diversity Score, DDS) by using the data from the three days record were analyzed and the food habit and lifestyle were assessed by self reporting questionnaire. The average energy intake of men was 2150.2 kcal which was significantly higher than that of women (p < 0.05). The intake ratio of carbohydrate, protein and fat over total energy was 54.8% : 19.3% : 25.8% in men, 59.5% : 17.8% : 22.6% in women, respectively. Frequency of the breakfast in a week above 4, 2~3 time and under one time was 75.7%, 10.7% and 9.7% in men, 77.1%, 5.7% and 14.3% in women respectively. Frequency of eating between meals in a day under one time was 73.8% in men, 57.1% in women (p < 0.05). The average DDS and DVS was 3.63 +/-0.07 and 14.10 +/-3.45, respectively which was significantly correlated with MAR (r = 0.40 in DDS, r = 0.64 in DVS, p < 0.01). The most frequent style of food pattern was DMGFV = 01101 in 35% of men, and DMGFV = 01111 in 37.1% of women. Our results show that dietary diversity and variety are useful parameters for evaluating nutrient intakes in obese adults. These findings suggest that nutritional education based on obese persons' eating behavior and eating diversity may be required to increase educational efficiency of weight control programs.

Association of the Nutritional Status and Essential Amino Acids Intake in Hemodialysis Patients

The mortality and morbidity rate of hemodialysis patients (HD) remain high. Among many factors, protein and calorie malnutrition has been shown to be a major risk factor for increased mortality in the HD patients population. Malnutrition can be caused by insufficient amino acid intake, nutrient losses in dialysate, oxidant stress and muscle catabolism. In this study, we evaluated the association of markers of nutritional status and essential amino acids intake in HD patients. We investigated nutritional status of 41 HD patients (mean age: 64.2 +/- 11.5 y, men: 24, women: 27) by measuring anthropometric, biochemical parameters and food intakes by using 24 hr recall methods. Subject's total energy intake and total protein intake were 1,648.0 +/- 397.31 kcal/day, 79.2 +/- 27.2 g/day, respectively. The animal protein intake was 42.7 +/- 22.1 g/day, essential amino acids intake was 23.4 +/- 9.92 g/day, and the ratio of essential amino acids to total protein intake was 29.6 +/- 5.42%. There were significantly positive correlation between muscle mass and lean body mass with serum creatinine level (r = 0.435, p < 0.01; r = 0.435, p < 0,01). There were also significant positive correlation in muscle mass and lean body mass with pre hemodialysis blood urea nitrogen (preHD BUN)(r = 0.329, p < 0.05; r = 0.329, p < 0.05). There were no significant correlation in total energy intake and total protein intake per kg ideal body weight (IBW) to muscle mass and lean body mass. However, there were significantly positive correlation between the ratio of essential amino acids and muscle mass and lean body mass (r = 0.368, p < 0.05; r = 0.405, p < 0.01). And serum hematocrit concentration was positively correlated with the ratio of essential amino acids (r = 0.032, p < 0.05). The results of this study indicate that strong associations exist in essential amino acid intakes with malnutrition than total protein intakes in HD patient. In conclusion, specialized nutrition education should be necessary to efficiently improve the quality of protein intakes.

A Study on Status and Subjective Recognition of Functional Foods Among Diabetic Patients

In Korea, there are many kinds of functional foods to manage diabetes, however, they have not been evaluated or investigated systematically. The purpose of this study was to investigate the status of recognition and intake of functional foods among diabetic patients. The study subjects were 307 patients(male 135, female 172), who diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at Seoul National University of Bundang Hospital. Questionnaire survey was done from July to October, 2004 for the characteristics of patients and factors related to the use of functional foods. The mean age of the subjects was 64+/-10.2 years, and the mean duration of disease was 9.5+/-8.90 years. Approximately 49.8% of the subjects had experience to use functional foods at least once in past. Total number of functional foods used were 56 types. Red ginseng was used most frequently(27.9%), then followed by Silkworm powder(13.6%), Vitamin supplements(10.4%), Mulberry tree(7.1%), Cordyceps sinensis(6.8%) and Ginseng(4.2%). Functional foods were introduced by their friends.relatives(38.4%), family(29.1%), internet(13.9%), and the mass media(10.6%). Among respondents, 94.7% took functional foods with conventional diet therapies(diet, exercise and medication). The purpose of functional food use was to control blood glucose level(49.0%), to relieve fatigue and improve stamina(19.9%), to treat and prevent a disease(17.2%) and to help blood circulation(7.9%). Upon the question of further recommendation of functional foods to others, 74.8% of the subjects answered negative response. However, 12.6% of the subjects showed the further intention of using new product. Therefore, to guide the appropriate use of functional foods for diabetic patients, diabetic educator should provide the knowledge of the efficacy of functional foods and the desirable guidelines.

Nutritional Status of Hospitalized Geriatric Patients Using by the Mini Nutritional Assessment / 대한지역사회영양학회지

The prevalence of undernutrition in hospital populations is known to be high. The presence of malnutrition is associated with depression, infections, sarcopaenia, falls, fractures, reduced autonomy and increased mortality. This study specifically examined the prevalence of malnutrition in patients aged 65 or older at the time of admission as determined by the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) which has been a frequently used nutritional risk screening tools in detecting undernutrition in old people. This study was done for one hundred eight hospitalized geriatric patients in Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul, Korea. On admission baseline history, anthropometrics measurements, laboratory data and nutritional status by MNA were assessed. Length of hospital stay was obtained by reviewing medical charts. We used one-way analysis of variance to compare the differences in variables. Spearman's rank correlation coefficients were calculated for associations between MNA and variables. On admission, 22.3% of patients were malnourished and 40.7% were at risk of malnutrition according to the MNA. Percent of ideal body weight, anthropometrics data, albumin, and hemoglobin were lower in the malnourished patients (p < 0.05). The malnourished patients stayed in the hospital 7.3 days longer, as compared with well nourished patients (p < 0.05). Percent of ideal body weight, albumin, hemoglobin and total cholesterol were correlated inversely with nutritional status according to MNA (p < 0.05). MNA can be used for nutritional assessment in Korean old people, because MNA significantly correlated with other nutritional assessment parameters, such as, anthropometric and laboratory data in hospitalized geriatric patients. The high prevalence of malnutrition in the elderly was observed and the presence of malnutrition on admission predicted a significant increase in the length of hospital stay in this study. Therefore further studies are needed to determine whether nutritional interventions in old people with low MNA scores can improve clinical outcomes during the hospital course.