Clinical nutrition : official journal of the European Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
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The extent of malnutrition in hospitalised stroke patients and its influence on outcomes including hospital complications, length of stay and discharge destination are important issues. The aim of this study was to determine the nutritional status of patients admitted to an acute stroke unit and the association between nutritional status and health outcomes. ⋯ Malnutrition on admission to hospital after acute stroke is associated with poor outcomes including increased length of stay and increased prevalence of dysphagia and complications. The scored PG-SGA is a nutrition assessment tool that allows quick identification of malnourished stroke patients.
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Low vitamin B-complex status has been associated with poorer outcome in critically-ill patients. However, these findings have been based on indirect methods. Using direct methods for assessing vitamin status, we examined the effect of B-complex vitamin supplementation by measuring plasma and red blood cell B1, B2 and B6-vitamin concentrations in critically-ill patients. ⋯ The results of the present study suggest that direct measurements of red cell FAD and PLP are more responsive to supplementation than plasma measurements in the critically-ill patient.