Dietary adequacy of adult surgical orthopaedic patients admitted to a teaching hospital in Zambia; a hospital-based cross-sectional study.

Background: Sub-optimal dietary intake among in-patients including those with orthopaedic injuries is one of the factors that contributes to malnutrition and poor clinical outcomes in hospitals. The purpose of this study was to determine adequacy of intake of selected nutrients among adult surgical orthopaedic patients on standard hospital diet.

Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study involving 98 adult surgical orthopaedic patients aged 18-64 years and admitted in low cost wards was conducted. A 24 h dietary recall was used to record food intake in the previous 24 h. Adequacy of energy, protein, calcium, iron, zinc, dietary fibre, sodium, folic acid and vitamin C were determined using nutrition standards for adult inpatients in one state of Australia. Food frequency of consuming selected foods was assessed using standard 7-day food frequency questionnaires. Data was collected over a period of three months.

Results: The findings on nutrient intake indicated that mean energy, protein, calcium, sodium, iron, zinc, folic acid, dietary fibre and vitamin C intake were all below the recommended values (1919Cal, 61.67 g, 160.05 mg, 222.91 mg, 10.19 mg, 2.55 mg, 165.98 μg, 20.09 g and 22.60 mg respectively). Further, 24.4%, 8.5%, 26.7%, 5.5% and 15.2% of the participants met the Recommended Dietary Intakes (RDIs) of energy, protein, iron, vitamin C and dietary fibre respectively. Hospital food contributed more than 60% of the total nutrient intake of energy, protein, folic acid and dietary fibre.

Conclusion: In this study, the mean consumption intake for all the selected nutrients was below the recommended dietary intakes. Since sub-optimal dietary intake is associated with malnutrition and poor clinical outcomes, it is recommended that the hospital should provide diets that meet the nutrient demands of adult inpatients.