Prevalence and Associated Factors of Malnutrition Among Patients Undergoing Surgery at Saint Peter Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2023

Abstract

Robel Gemechu Haile*, Abel Teklit Haile, Zelalem Debebe, Gubala Getu, Bitewlign Tiruneh and Helina Mengiste

Background: Malnutrition is an imbalance between food intake and needs. It is a clinical condition with multifactorial etiology, resulting in several disorders like immune suppression, increased susceptibility to infections, increased drug intolerance, and death.

Objective: To assess the prevalence and associated factors of malnutrition among patients undergoing surgery at Saint Peter Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2023.

Methods: An institution based cross-sectional study was designed to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of malnutrition among adult patients undergoing surgery.

Results: During the preoperative period, the study found that 12.5% of patients were undernourished, while 30% were overnourished. Following surgery, the prevalence of undernutrition decreased to 10%, while overnutrition remained high at 29.2%. Furthermore, a statistically significant difference in hospital length of stay was observed between patients with normal nutritional status and those with undernutrition postoperatively. The mean difference between these groups was 2.65812 (95% CI=- 3.07882 to -2.23742), with a p-value of less than 0.001. Specifically, patients with normal nutritional status had an average stay of less than 2.66 days longer than those with undernutrition.