Determination of malnutrition status and depression and anxiety levels of female patients treated in the surgical ward of a hospital

The aim of this study was to determine the risk of malnutrition and the relationship between malnutrition status and depression and anxiety levels in female patients hospitalized in surgical wards. 108 voluntary female volunteers between the ages of 19-65 participated in the study. The data were collected with a questionnaire form administered face-to-face by the researcher. Participants' general information, biochemical data, anthropometric measurements, disease status, reasons for hospitalisation, duration of hospitalisation, questions about their diet, determination of their nutritional status with food consumption record, malnutrition status (assessment of nutritional status was evaluated with NRS-2002, MUST and SGA), anxiety and depression levels (with Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)) were evaluated. The participants were measured preoperatively and postoperatively with the first interview after hospitalisation and the last interview on the 7th postoperative day, and the body weight (kg), body mass index BMI (kg/m2), fat ratio, fat mass, lean body mass and muscle mass values were found to be significantly lower in the last measurement compared to the first measurement (p<0.05). In addition, food consumption was recorded on the 3rd postoperative day and compared with the other days. After the NRS-2002 evaluation of the individuals; 48% of the individuals were in the low risk group and 52% in the medium risk group during hospitalisation, 43.6% were in the medium risk group and 47.3% in the high risk group on the 7th postoperative day. In the evaluation of malnutrition according to MUST, 54% of the patients were in the low risk group, 36.7% in the medium risk group and 9.3% in the high risk group during hospitalisation. On the 7th postoperative day, the proportion of individuals in the medium risk group decreased to 29%, while the proportion of individuals in the high risk group increased to 26%. In the evaluation of malnutrition according to SGA, it was found that 64.6% of the individuals were well-nourished, 28.5% were at moderate risk of malnutrition and 6.9% were severely malnourished during hospitalisation. On the 7th postoperative day, the rate of well-nourished individuals decreased to 20.9%, the rate of those at moderate risk of malnutrition increased to 47.3% and the rate of severe malnutrition increased to 20.9%. The odds ratio for the risk of malnutrition according to NRS-2002 and the level of anxiety and depression were found to be significant. As the level of depression increased, the risk of malnutrition according to NRS-2002 increased (p=0.021), and as the level of anxiety increased, the risk of malnutrition decreased (p=0.022). HADS depression level was found to increase the MUST score (p=0.006). It was found that HADS anxiety level affected the SGA score and the rate of severe malnutrition increased in high anxiety states (p= 0.032). According to the results of this study, it is recommended to evaluate the malnutrition risk of individuals during hospitalisation and to implement the necessary interventions in the early period. Keywords: Nutrition, malnutrition, hospital malnutrition