Early nutritional risk detection and intervention in COVID-19 hospitalized patients through the implementation of electronic automatized alarms.

Introduction: Hospitalized COVID-19 patients may present acute malnutrition which could influence morbidity and mortality. In the first wave of the pandemic severe weight loss was observed in many hospitalized patients. This pilot study evaluates the usefulness of an electronic automatized alarm for the early quantification of a low food intake as a predictor of the risk of malnutrition using COVID-19 disease as a model of severe illness.

Impact of COVID-19 on nutritional status during the first wave of the pandemic.

Background & Aims: Patients affected by COVID-19 may develop disease related malnutrition (DRM) due to the catabolic situation, symptoms that interfere with intake and prolonged hospital stay. This study aims to know the percentage of patients admitted for COVID-19 who required artificial nutrition (AN), their clinical characteristics, as well as the prevalence of DRM and the risk of sarcopenia at hospital discharge and after 6 months.

Material And Methods: Observational, prospective study, with successive inclusion of adult patients admitted for COVID-19 in whom institutional nutritional support (NS) care protocol was applied.