Objective: To determine a simplified method for nutritional status evaluation in surgical patients to identify patients prone to develop complications.
Methods: A prospective study was carried out to determine prognostic index of patients in whom major abdominal surgery was performed, based on nutritional assessment. We proposed a simplified and accessible method for daily evaluation of patients in any hospital even in an emergency setting. The following parameters were used: complete blood count (CBC); blood chemistry (BC); protrombine time (PT); total serum protein (TSP), and anthropometrics.
Results: Study population consisted of 200 patients divided in two groups depending on type of surgical intervention, i.e., emergency or elective procedure. Complications associated with different stages of malnourishment were analyzed by simplified nutritional assessment system. Of 200 patients analyzed, 123 had several stages of malnutrition, 62 were malnourished, complicated patients (50.41%), and 77 had adequate nutritional status; of these, 10 also had complications (12.99%).
Discussion: We were able to conclude that simplified nutritional assessment system is not a useful absolute predictive indicator of possible complications. However, some parameters could be useful to identify patients with nutritional depletion with tendency for post-surgical complications.