Assessment of nutritional status with Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) method and its relationship with demographic and clinical variables in stroke patient in Tehran

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: One of the most important principles of stroke treatment is the nutritional status. Malnutrition is a common in these patients and affects the process of improvement and outcomes. The aim of this study was to use the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment tool and its relationship with biochemical, hematological, nutrition, disability, and outcomes of the patient.

METHOD: This cross-sectional study was performed on 380 stroke patients admitted to Rasool Akram and Firoozgar hospitals in Tehran. Informations were collected in two primary sections (demographic and clinical) at admission and the recurrent section (consciousness and disability, anthropometric, biochemical, hematological variables, nutrition and outcomes) at the end of each week. The nutritional status was assessed using the PG-SGA. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software version 22.

RESULTS: 318 patients (83.6%) had malnutrition and 62 patients (16.3%) were normal. 258 patients (67.8%), were male and 122 (32.1%) female. 359 (94.5%) were discharged and 21 (5.5%) died that all of them were malnourished. The average score of PG-SGA was 7 in the normal and 11 in the malnutrition group. Serum Albumin and Triglyceride have a positive significant relationship with the nutritional status (p <0.05), but none of the hematological indices have a significant relationship with nutritional status (p≥0.05). There was a significant relationship between the nutritional status and the feeding method of the patients (P = 0/004) at the end of the first week. There was a significant correlation between the nutritional status of patients with a disability level (p <0.05) and outcomes (p = 0.001).

CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION: According to the results of this study, PG-SGA questionaire, associated with serum albumin and triglyceride decreased, seem to be a suitable procedure to assessing nutrition status in hospitalized patients, with stroke, particularly in elderly.