• Judith Rodríguez-García, Astrid Gamiño-Iriarte, and Edel Rafael Rodea-Montero.
• Department of Nutrition, Hospital Regional de Alta Especialidad del Bajío, Blvd. Milenio 130, San Carlos la Roncha, C.P.37660, León, Guanajuato, México.
• Plos One. 2015 Jan 1; 10 (3): e0118980.

BackgroundControversy exists as to whether obesity constitutes a risk-factor or a protective-factor for the development of nosocomial Infection (NI). According to the obesity-paradox, there is evidence that moderate obesity is a protective-factor. In Mexico few studies have focused on the nutritional status (NS) distribution in the hospital setting.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to estimate the distribution of NS and the prevalence of nosocomial infection NI among adult elective surgery (ES) patients and to compare the clinical and anthropometric characteristics and length of stays (LOS) between obese and non-obese patients and between patients with and without NI.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study with a sample (n = 82) adult ES patients (21-59 years old) who were recruited from a tertiary-care hospital. The prevalences of each NS category and NI were estimated, the assessments were compared between groups (Mann-Whitney, Chi-squared or the Fisher's-exact-test), and the association between preoperative risk-factors and NI was evaluated using odds ratios.ResultsThe distribution of subjects by NS category was: underweight (3.66%), normal-weight (28.05%), overweight (35.36%), and obese (32.93%). The prevalence of NI was 14.63%. The LOS was longer (p<0.001) for the patients who developed NI. The percentages of NI were: 33.3% in underweight, 18.52% in obese, 17.39% in normal-weight, and 6.90% in overweight patients.ConclusionThe prevalence of overweight and obesity in adult ES patients is high. The highest prevalence of NI occurred in the underweight and obese patients. The presence of NI considerably increased the LOS, resulting in higher medical care costs.

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