Aim

To describe pre- and postoperative nutritional status for patients undergoing elective orthopaedic or thoracic surgery, compare different methods for screening and assessment of nutritional status and identify predictors for surgical-wound infection.

Method

Ninety-four patients were consecutively included and assessed preoperatively using the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA), nutritional screening indicators (NSI), nutrition risk index (NRI), and the biochemical indicators serum albumin (S-Albumin) and serum insulin-like growth factor 1 (S-IGF-1). Thirty days postoperatively, a structured infection surveillance questionnaire, weight and blood sampling were conducted.

Results

The prevalence of malnutrition preoperatively ranged from 3.2% (PG-SGA) to 17.0–17.1% (S-IGF-1 and NSI). Thirty days postoperatively, the body weight, the body mass index and S-Albumin had decreased, while the S-IGF-1 had increased significantly. The only significant correlation between different methods preoperatively was found between S-Albumin and S-IGF-1. The agreement between NRI and S-Albumin was fair. Six patients (6.4%) developed surgical-wound infections. Preoperative S-Albumin was significantly lower for patients who developed surgical-wound infection compared to those who did not.

Conclusion

The prevalence of malnutrition and risk for malnutrition in patients undergoing elective surgery varied depending on which evaluation method was used. Low preoperative S-Albumin was identified as the only significant predictor for surgical-wound infection.