Optimizing Clinical Nutrition Management for Elderly Hospitalized Patients: Current Practices and Insights.

The majority of elderly hospitalized patients who received nutrition consultations were identified as being at nutritional risk.

• Among 227 total patients, 160 were at nutritional risk.
• Nutritional risk was present in 68.75% of male patients and 73.49% of female patients.
• The study was conducted at the Department of Geriatrics at Peking University People's Hospital from May 2017 to September 2020.
• Data were collected via retrospective review of medical records including nutritional status, consultation times, compliance, and blood biochemical indicators.

Patients with specific comorbidities had a higher incidence of nutritional risk.

• Conditions associated with higher nutritional risk included type 2 diabetes, pulmonary infections, gastrointestinal diseases, chronic kidney disease, and anemia.
• The difference in nutritional risk incidence across these disease groups was statistically significant (P<0.05).

The large majority of at-risk patients adhered to the nutritionists' intervention plan, with variable compliance rates across different intervention types.

• Of 160 patients at nutritional risk, 204 patients (across the broader cohort) adhered to the nutritionists' intervention plan.
• The highest implementation rate was for health education at 98.73%.
• The lowest implementation rate was for oral nutritional supplements (ONS) at 83.87%.
• Among noncompliant patients, 69% failed to take oral supplements and 22% refused tube feeding.

Patients who followed nutritional advice had significantly shorter hospital stays compared to those who did not.

• The difference in hospital stay length between compliant and noncompliant patients was statistically significant (P=0.03 and P=0.00 reported).
• Two separate P-values were reported (P=0.03 and P=0.00), suggesting comparisons across more than one subgroup or time point.

Nutritional intervention improved total protein and albumin levels, with differential effects observed based on nutritional risk level.

• After intervention, both total protein and albumin levels improved.
• Low-risk patients showed higher levels of total protein and albumin in the total enteral nutrition group (P<0.05).
• No significant differences in total protein or albumin were found in high-risk patients following intervention (P>0.05).