Application of nutritional screening instruments and their relationship with length of hospital stay of older adult in-patients: model adjusted for the type of disease

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the length of hospital stay (LHS) in connection with nutritional screening instruments (NSI) in hospitalized elderly patients (HEP). METHOD: This was a cross-sectional and retrospective study with 565 HEP. NSI such as the Nutritional Risk Screening (NRS), the Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) and the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) as well as the LHS were investigated. Data were analyzed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Mann-Whitney, Chi-square tests and the Poisson regression model. RESULTS: Through the multiple Poisson model adjusted for the disease, the variables that together explained the LHS were the classification of malnutrition and nutritional risk according to the SGA (estimated parameter = 0.123348, standard error = 0.033580, p = 0.0002); NRS (estimated parameter = 0.339066, standard error = 0.032706, p < 0.0001) and MNA (estimated parameter = 0.180824, standard error=0.051674, p=0.0005). CONCLUSION: After adjusting for disease type, the NRS, SGA and MNA were predictors of LHS of HEP. The integrated use of these assessment tools can enhance the decision-making process in nutritional care and hospital assistance, leading to improved clinical outcomes.