New Study Finds Malnutrition Highly Prevalent in Critically Ill Patients in Latin American Hospitals

SANTA CATARINA, Brazil, October 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

First Results of a Multinational Study Evaluating Nutrition Practices in Latin American Hospitals Reveals About 75 Percent of Critically Ill Patients are Malnourished or at Risk to be Malnourished 

Screening Day Latin America, a multinational study evaluating clinical nutrition practices in 120 Latin American hospitals, found that 75 percent of critically ill patients were malnourished or at risk to be malnourished; a protein deficit was present in 49 percent of critically ill adults, and 40 percent of critically ill adults showed a caloric deficit.

Initial findings from the study were presented today at the 15^th Congress of the Federación Latino Americana de Terapia Nutricional, Nutricion Clínica y Metabolismo (FELANPE) in Santa Catarina, Brazil.

"All critically ill patients involved in this study were receiving clinical nutrition support. Nevertheless, the prevalence of caloric deficits among this patient group was found to be very high," said Prof. Dr. John Stover, Vice President Global Medical Clinical and Regulatory Affairs at Fresenius Kabi. "Caloric intake failed to meet targeted energy delivery in more than one-third of patients in this high-risk population. We hope these results increase awareness and knowledge about current nutritional management, and offer solutions for improvement."

Data was collected in collaboration with local healthcare professionals from more than 1,000 critically ill patients in 120 hospitals across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama and Peru.

"The results showed an increased probability of patients reaching their caloric target when receiving both enteral and parental nutrition compared to those patients receiving enteral nutrition alone," says Dr. Karin Papapietro Vallejo, head of the multidisciplinary team of nutrition therapy at Hospital Clínico de la Universidad de Chile. "We believe the route of clinical nutrition administration is significantly associated with the caloric target met. The findings of this study suggest that administration of supplemental parenteral nutrition could be an opportunity for critically ill adults, who fail to receive adequate nutrition support from enteral nutrition alone."

Full results of the study are scheduled to be published in 2017. Screening Day Latin America is part of 'United for clinical nutrition' an initiative launched in 2015 and supported by Fresenius Kabi, a global healthcare company specialized in clinical nutrition.

About 'United for clinical nutrition':

Launched in May 2015 by Fresenius Kabi, 'United for clinical nutrition' seeks to support healthcare professionals across Latin America. The initiative offers practical, data-driven, online and offline therapy support tools to provide best practice for the clinical nutrition of critically ill patients.

To learn more, visit http://www.unitedforclinicalnutrition.com.

About Fresenius Kabi: 

Fresenius Kabi is a global healthcare company specialized in lifesaving medicines and technologies for clinical nutrition, infusion, and transfusion. Our products and services are used to help care for critically and chronically ill patients. With our corporate philosophy of 'caring for life', we are committed to putting essential medicines and technologies in the hands of people who help patients and finding the best answers to the challenges they face.

More information: and http://www.fresenius-kabi.com

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