Calcutta: According to a study carried out in a city hospital, the nutritional status of Covid 19 patients is related to the treatment outcome and mortality. The study, which is yet to be assessed, showed that the worse the nutritional status, the worse the clinical result. The study also showed more deaths in patients with poor nutritional status. It has recommended evaluating the nutritional status of Covid-19 infected patients who require hospital care so that this aspect can also be taken into account during treatment.
The observational study conducted at Peerless Hospital interviewed 106 patients over the age of 18 for the study. The nutritional status of each patient was assessed using MUST (Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool), a screening tool widely used in the West. While the ideal MUST score is zero, 13 patients received 1 on the MUST scale and 22 patients received 2 and above. However, 71 patients passed the MUST test.
While 89 patients recovered and were discharged from the hospital, 17 of them died. Of the 17 deaths, 11 had a MUST score of 2 or more, while one had a score of 1 and two others had a score of 0.
“Our goal was to find out whether there is a connection between the nutritional status of a patient and the outcome of the treatment. Our study found that poor diet leads to poor clinical outcome. Covid management is multidisciplinary. If we examine patients early and assess the nutritional risk and consider this aspect when treating the patient, this could lead to better treatment outcomes, ”said Subhrojyoti Bhowmick, director of clinical research and academic research at Peerless Hospital.
Of the 22 patients with a MUST score of 2 and above, 17 were in the 50+ age group. 14 of them had died.
“This type of screening is mostly done in NABH accredited hospitals. We firmly believe that more hospitals should do this screening so that doctors can take care of the patient’s nutritional status in addition to drugs and therapies such as oxygen, ”said Sudeshna Maitra Nag, the hospital’s chief dietician, who also participated in the study entitled . participated in “Nutritional risk assessment with MUST in Covid-19 patients”.
The study concluded that older patients were seen to have a higher nutritional risk and a higher MUST score was associated with higher mortality.
