Aims: To examine the relationship between nutrition risk and malnutrition diagnosis, provision of oral nutrition supplements and post-operative outcomes, in older patients with hip fractures.
Methods: In this retrospective observational study we reviewed the admission data for 200 consecutive patients from April to December 2023 aged over 65 years old with surgically managed hip fractures. The nutritional status of patients was determined using the Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST) and a dietitian assessment for those identified as high risk by screening.
Results: Overall, 7% and 10% of inpatients were at moderate to high risk of malnutrition by their initial MST and highest MST scores respectively. Malnutrition was diagnosed by dietitian assessment using the Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) in 3.5% of the sample of 200 patients. However the average albumin was 32.72 g/L and the median albumin was 33 suggesting that the true number of malnourished patients was higher. In the group transferred to rehabilitation or geriatric medicine programs there were 37 (18.5%) further diagnoses of malnutrition made before discharge. Due to the low rate of malnutrition diagnosis in this sample it was not possible to analyse the groups for significant differences in outcomes.
Conclusions: The overall rate of malnutrition diagnosis was relatively low in this group of older patients with hip fractures suggesting that the MST may not be adequate in screening for malnutrition. The results highlight the opportunity for improvement in accurate identification and treatment of malnutrition in order to prevent potential adverse outcomes.